


Clinging On For Life

by MadcapWhovian



Category: Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood
Genre: Behind the Scenes, F/M, Gen, POV Original Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-06
Updated: 2014-03-05
Packaged: 2018-01-07 17:20:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 33,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1122472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadcapWhovian/pseuds/MadcapWhovian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>'Actions speak louder than words', that expression didnt mean a lot to Charlie, until she became Alex Whitehall, one in a long line of many. A long line of heroines.<br/>When everyone else knows what she has to do, yet she hasnt the foggiest, things become a little bit more exciting on the Torchwood set.<br/>What has The Moff got in store for Eleven and his new girl?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Queen Elizabeth And The Doctor

**Author's Note:**

> This is also published on my Wattpad account (Gryffindork) but I think this is the website to be. So enjoy.

We stood at the front of the set, me perched ready to 'fall' and then run. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the camera zoomed in on my face.

"Ready, Charlie? ACTION!" I jumped sideways onto the crash mat disguised as paving slabs and ran towards the fake wooden door. Men dressed in Tudor clothing followed, there swords raised and yelling. I breathed heavily as I ran, nothing was going to stop me. I wanted to make a good impression on the first day of filming. I had no idea what the plot of my episode was, I just knew I had to run from the 'guards' that were chasing me. I stopped when I reached the other side of the courtyard we were filming in. The team surrounded me with umbrellas and coffee. Nick Hurran, the director, approached me, holding the script close to his chest to protect it from the rain.

"Okay, Charlie Howards, right? Okay Charlie, when you run, make sure to look over your shoulder every now and then. Look worried! Your being chased by Queen Elizabeth I's guards, remember?" I nodded along, taking in the instructions he gave me. " We're going to bring the rest of the main cast now. I'm aware that you haven't met any of them right? Apart from Louise who plays your mother. Well you're about to meet the main guy. Charlie Howards, meet Matt Smith." I turned and faced the man Nick was pointing to. He walked up towards me, wearing shades despite the rain.

"Hello, Mr Smith." I shook his hand. He smiled at me.

"Nice shades." Taking them off he winked.

"Yeah, they are. I like them so much I've got two pairs." He pushed them on my nose and laughed. "Might have a word with the costume department about your characters accessories! They suit you. Okay what scene are we doing then?" Nick flicked through the script, getting towards the end.

"Right, were doing the 'Return To The TARDIS'." I vaguely remembered the plot, and as I only had my lines and didn't attend the read through, didn't know what was going to happen. I had been kept in the dark about the whole thing really as the writers didn't want anything getting out. Nick continued and thankfully explained. "So after a challenging day being picked up at the museum by some madman, battling the aliens of the Tower Of London, The Doctor', Matt,s fall out with Elizabeth and a near death experience, Alex Whitehall, Charlie, is taken back home to her mother in future England. She is positive she is being pranked up until The Doctor points out a damage to the Tower that could have only been caused by the aliens. And we'll take it from there."

Matt and I walked over to the set, a reconstruction of the bottom of the Tower. We stood opposite, ready to act. "Take 1 scene 17 ACTION!" Matt suddenly became the Doctor in front of my eyes, his mannerisms changed and he looked like a man who had been fighting all day. Being a big fan of Doctor Who, I was finding it hard not to grab hold of him and not let go, but keeping my cool was my strong point. "So, Alex, see you around." He turned and walked away towards the wooden TARDIS standing 5 feet away. I waited until he was just about to open the before shouting and running forward.

"Doctor wait!" He turned, smiling.

"Yes?"

"Thank you. For saving my life back there. Even if it was just a prank." He laughed. "Humans, always looking the unextraodinary explanation." I laughed too. From behind us, Nick shouted some directions.

"Charlie, lean in and kiss him. Matt, look surprised but continue." I didn't remember reading that on the script. Trying to conceal my shock and nerves, I stood on my toes so I was looking Matt in the eye and leaned in, but "CUT!" I stop centimetres away. We were left, awkwardly close on the first day of filming. Nick walked over again, along with the makeup department who set to work covering up my blush. Matt seemed fine with it though.

"Hey, your really good by the way! I'm glad they picked you, sorry about not making the screen test, I had a family issue, oh and about this. They always throw something like this at you on the first day of filming. Their idea of a showbiz ice-breaker." I laughed. Nick had reached us and was now speaking.

"Charlie, you looked too awkward doing that. So what we are going to do is make you kiss him on the cheek instead? How about that? Matt..." He walked Matt over and was giving him what looked like instructions on lighting with the TARDIS. The makeup department had finished with me so I stood waiting for someone to give me instructions. After a couple more minutes, Matt and Nick walked back over. We confirmed we were ready and Nick went back to the directors seat.

"Take 2, scene 17. ACTION!" "Thank you. For saving my life back there. Even if it was just a prank." Again he laughed.

"Humans, always looking the unextraodinary explanation." I laughed then stood on my toes, aiming for his cheek. Thoughts ran through my head, ranging from 'Am I supposed to look this eager?' to 'OMG. I'm kissing Matt Smiths cheek!'. I closed my eyes, waiting for my lips to make contact. "

Ale-" And then I was kissing Matt. Properly. Not the cheeks but lips. I felt him fake a little wriggle, knowing that he could've pulled away. Nick had obviously told him to move his head at last minute. Matt's hand went to my back and I put my arms around his neck is a loose embrace.

"And, pull away." I did as directed, not taking my eyes off Matt's face. He looked at me seriously.

"Just so you know, it wasn't a prank. I'm serious when I say your special. You were chosen to come with me long ago. It was never a question of if, just when. Come on. The TARDIS is waiting. Anywhere, anytime. Are you ready?" He held his hand out and i took it.

"You bet." And we walk inside the fake TARDIS. I waited a couple of seconds before attempting to move out of the cramped box but Matt held onto my arm.

"We have to wait for them to do the wind. You'll hear it." We were face to face again, surrounded by the sound of giant fans. "It seems like acting isn't your only talent miss Howards. Another seems to be a good old snog. We may have to arrange another." He winked slightly then walked out. The wind had stopped. And so had I. Frozen by the possibility of more personal time with Mr Matt Smith.


	2. Evil Plans From The Ones In Charge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Working on Doctor Who is almost over, but things are still bubbling between the cast!

On location filming was always the best, and hardest, thing to do in my new job. Matt and I were waiting around in Cardiff Bay, approaching the end of an uneventful day of filming. Not that the 6 months I had spent on the set of Doctor Who had been boring. Quite the opposite. Matt and I had become really close since that explosive first day of filming. As the camera wasn't rolling, we were just hanging out away from the lens. The writers and producers were gathered around an outside table at the pizza parlour near the water.

I felt a warm hand touch my hip as I looked over the railing into the sea. A soft breath made my hair tickle at my chin

"They're up to something." Matt muttered. He leaned in closer to my ear. "So Charlie, are you enjoying shooting in the beautiful Cardiff?" I nodded and turned my head so we were almost nose to nose. Neither of us moved, staring the other out. Admittedly, there was chemistry between Mr Smith and I. But fortunately, or unfortunately, there had been no more opportunities in the scripts to explore where that chemistry might lead. He turned and looked out onto the water. The setting sun shone brightly into his green eyes making his pupils smaller and his irises glow. Leaning backwards on the railing, I looked towards the millennium centre and the other iconic monuments near it. Something about Cardiff was peaceful. The locals had taken their pictures with Matt and me this morning. It was strange for me as the announcement that I was the companion had taken place this week. As a frequent user of Twitter, something that Matt scoffed at, I saw immediately what people thought. Several pictures of me hugging Matt had made their way to Tumblr and Facebook, so it was amusing to see what the dedicated Whovians had come up with about the Doctor and my relationship. None of them had come close. After the shop owners and the tourists had met us, we were left to our own devices.

The episode we were shooting was midway through the series and written by the amazing Russell T Davies. He had penned two of the twelve stories in the season and both had been brilliant. When I had read the scripts I felt like I was a teenager again. There were factors to the plots that echoed the era of Rose and Tennant. He had even brought Martha, now settled down with Mickey in a job that defends the Earth, back into the episode. Freema was so nice and Matt and I had a great time messing about with her on set.

There was a scene towards the end that really got to me. It was called Goodbye Sarah Jane. The Doctor promises Alex that he'll introduce her to Sarah Jane after she found out how cool she was from Martha and Mickey. They visit Bannerman Road and knock on her door, to no answer. They try again, still no reply. Once more they go to knock when a cars pulls into the drive and an adult Luke steps out. The Doctor and Luke looks at each other for a minute before the Doctor hugs a tearful Luke saying "I'm so sorry." Alex and the Doctor find out that Sarah Jane died two months ago. Alex asks if they can't go back in time and meet her but the Doctor explains that it would mean crossing his own time line. So they leave Sarah Jane's drive on Bannerman Road for the last time. I must've burst into tears ten times just filming that one scene.

So here we were in Cardiff filming the first scene. Matt and I leaned against the railing together, hands dangling dangerously close.

"So, how come we're staying here for another month? We've finished filming." I asked Matt. He shrugged his shoulders and answers.

"Not sure, but I bet it's something to do with that little meeting over there." We looked over together. Steven Moffat and Russell Davies were getting up out of their chairs. They walked towards us, laughing.

"That's not sinister at all." Matt said sarcastically.

"Hello!" Steven said happily. They finally reached us, grinning menacingly, clutching two plastic wallets to their chest.

"Now, as you know, today was the last day of filming for 6 weeks, when we go to New Zealand for the Christmas special. You're probably planning to go on holiday in some exotic country where you can stay the whole time in the sun lounging about. Well, no, you're not. In these wallets, we have two scripts. For you two. Russell here has been wanting me to give you these weeks ago, but I wanted it to be a surprise. Plus, we didn't want to scare poor Charlie off too much!" Matt and I exchanged looks, both wondering what we were being pushed into this time. I took the script that Steven was passing to me and looked at the cover. I let out a little scream. Next to me, Matt was chuckling to himself.

"Torchwood is back, baby!" Russell said excitedly.

*

The Torchwood set was immense. For me, who had nearly passed out when Matt had showed me the Eccleston and Tennant TARDIS set, I was taking it quite well. As Matt and I had not attended the read through, thanks to Steven, the first time we were meeting the cast was on set. Matt too was looking a little bit lost on the impressive set. He kept on twisting the elastic of his braces around his fingers or flicking at his bow tie. He walked over and joined me, touching my back slightly, a habit that was becoming quite regular.

"I don't trust Russ and Steven. Why are they only letting us read a few scenes at a time? Mark keeps on giving me funny looks." I said. He looked over at Mark Gattis, who was talking to the producers.

"I know. I feel like they're up to something. Do you know what time the rest of the cast is getting here?" Matt asked, rubbing his hands together in a mix of excitement and nerves. He wasn't happy with how well he knew his lines, even though we practised them all night in the trailers. I was rocking on the spot.

"Hello darling." Came a flirtatious voice from behind us. Matt looked and smiled. I turned and saw John Barrowman coming towards us, large military coat swinging as he moved. He embraced Matt and patted his shoulder. Blue eyes then fixing on me, he flashed a charming smile and a quick wink.

"Who is this gorgeous creature? Don't tell me, you're Charlie Howards. God, I was so excited to meet you! The Doctor's new girl." He walked over and hugged me too. I stood there shocked. I was a massive fan of Torchwood, so being in the program was cool enough, let alone getting called gorgeous by John Barrowman. Overwhelmed, I hugged him back.

"Hi! This is awesome! But could you please tell me the plot of the episode as no one else wants to tell us?" I asked. He pulled a face as if he would really would like to, but no.

"I'm on strict orders from up high. One lot at a time for you two. All I can say is it's the Christmas special. Don't look at me like that! Blame Steve and Russ!"

"Okay, can everyone gather around?" Someone near the middle of the hub shouted, motioning to where we had to go. More of the cast came from backstage. I recognised a few familiar faces such as Eve Myles and Kai Owen. As more people piled in I even saw Freema Agyeman and Alex Kingston, who I had met during filming.

"Matt, what are Freema and Alex doing here?" He looked over and saw them too.

"I don't know but I have the feeling we're about to find out." He said as the director stood on a podium and addressed everyone.

"Okay this is the opening sequence. On request of Steven and Russell, we are shooting the scenes in a different order than what was planned; if you look on the door you'll see the plan. So, in this scene, we need Alex near the stairs as if she had just walked down them. Freema go stand near John who is going to be near the computers, studying a screen. Eve, if you and Kai, If you go stand in the corridor waiting to enter. Okay, Charlie and Matt go and stand in the TARDIS. Could everyone else go and stand off set. We need absolute silence." When he had finished speaking and everyone had their positions someone yelled 'ACTION' and the camera began rolling. From our position in the TARDIS we could here Freema recite her lines.

"Jack, there has been a massive spike in activity. It's the most recent in a series of fluctuations; I think we might need to check it out."

"I agree. We should get someone to check it out. It's right over the rift." That was Alex. We heard John breathe out deeply.

"Fine then River, you go. Take Jamie, when he gets here, with you. You might need a scientist."

"You mean I might need protection." Alex said accusingly.

"No, I mean we need someone with scientific training to see what we're dealing with." John said, using voice you would use when talking to an annoying child.

"Whatever. I'll go and collect the tracker then. Oh, and Jack? If you ever imply that I need our kid of a colleague to protect me then I'll show you who needs protection." From the sound of heels on tile, Alex had left. I heard a door open and close and the sound of two people entering the hub.

"The teachers have rang up and said she is really sick, so could you please, please go pick Anwen up?" Eve sounded as if she wasn't going to give Kai a choice in the matter.

"Fine!" Said a strong welsh accent. Then Jack's voice.

"Oh Rhys darling, drop River off whilst you're there?" He sounded like he was mocking the other man. There was a reply of a sigh and the rattle of keys.

"Jack, I don-" Eve began, but was interrupted by the whirring sound of engines. Matt leaned into my ear and whispered.

"Ready?" I nodded before bursting out of the door and looking around the hub. I shouted back into the TARDIS.

"Doctor! I'm not sure we're in the Sherwood Forest! It looks more like an old tube station." Matt burst through the doors after me.

"Train station! I hate trains. Hang on I recognise here!" He said spotting John.

"With that awful sense of dress it's got to be. Hey Doctor!" He walked forward and hugged Matt. They both laughed. Eve walked towards me, confusion in her eyes.

"Jack, who are these people?"

"Gwen, this is the Doctor." John said, announcing him like a circus ring master. I saw Freema, who looked at me. We ran and hugged each other.

"Martha! Gosh! It's been ages! Where are we?"

"I'm good thanks. I got a job here! Finally, and Mickey got one too. But he's working with Torchwood Two at the moment." I looked at her confused.

"What's Torchwood?"

"It's an organisation set up by Queen Victoria. Originally, we were on orders to protect England from the troubles of the Doctor, but eventually I butted in and told them to point their guns at the real enemies!" John said. I nodded along.

"Wait, what did you do to Queen Victoria?" I turned to Matt.

"Why do they always think it's me?" He said, annoyed.

"Because it is always you." Came a voice from the corner of the set. "Hello sweetie." Alex came walking down a few steps.

"Hello River." The Doctor said. Alex looked at Matt not smiling.

"CUT!" Nick Hurran went and gave directions to Alex and Matt. I turned and smiled at Freema. She grinned back. Maybe she could tell me what Steven and Russell had planned.

"Hey Freema, could yo-"

"No, sorry Charlie, Steven had threatened what will happen if we say." She said apologetically. I looked at the ground, but looked up when I heard her sigh.

"Okay, I'll tell you a clue. Scene 7. It's being recorded tomorrow. That's when it takes place." I gulped. What takes place? Matt and I had only received 1, 9 and 13. Would we get 7 when we leave tonight?

"Scene 1, take 2. ACTION!"

"Hello River." Matt said, serious again. Alex drew her hand back and slapped Matt hard, I winced. As she took her hand from his cheek, pulling back for another go, he caught her wrist. They looked at each other, equally annoyed.

"What was that for?" Matt growled, a red mark glowing along his cheek bone.

"You know exactly what that was for, Doctor." They stared each other before she snatched her hand back and walked off. Matt turned to John who was looking at him, worried.

"Ah, there's history there then." He said, attempting to understand.

"A lot, most of which I don't know. We're married, divorced, newlyweds. I'm not actually sure." Matt said weakly.

"Oh. A messy one by the looks of it. Anyhow, what are you doing here Doctor?"

"I got a message from the hub on the physic paper. What's up?"

"We didn't send it." John said eyes wide with worry and shock.

"CUT! That's great guys!" Matt went straight from looking like the Doctor, the oncoming storm, two seconds away from defending the Earth from anybody who threatened, to Matt. Amazing, old Matt. John turned and patted him on the back. He looked over at me and smiled.I grinned back, certain I was blushing.


	3. Have We Worked Out The Plan?

"This whole 'one scene at a time' thing is beginning to wear thin very quickly" I muttered as Matt and I went through make up on the 3rd day of the shoot. The story line, we were told, was a 3 part-er, airing Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Suzanne, the make up artist, had the hard task of making us look like we had been attacked by an invisible alien that is set to feed of the human races natural instincts and change them into the kind of animals. Well, that was what I had worked out so far.

"Am I the only one of us that thinks this 'natural instincts' thing could end strangely?" Matt said, sounding like he was voicing something that had been bothering him for a while.

"I guess. I mean, what are the human races instincts? To kill, to eat, to breathe..."

"To love." Said Suzanne, plumping my hair out, back combing as she went. I hadn't thought of that. What would the script contain today? The last thing we filmed was the monster separating off The Doctor and Alex away from Jack and Gwen and them from River and Rhys. It wasn't looking good. Jamie and Martha weren't around, they were looking for readings that might suggest the invasion was intended. Love was looking most likely. Suzanne winked and walk off.

That worried me.

Matt and I set off. We were filming in the Millennium Centre which was substituting a hospital. It didn't take much waiting around before we got bored and ran off looking for entertainment, which came in the form of a selection of percussion instrument that we found backstage. We began messing about, playing random tunes, including Batman theme and all sorts of other stuff. I started waving the tambourine around and dancing like a hippy when I caught Matt looking at me funny. It was only funny because my stomach seemed to hosting a rave and there was a refreshing feeling spread through my body, I began to relax at the same time as becoming overly excited, I was a mess. But it was over in a second, whipped away by my hair blocking out his grinning face. I stopped dancing and blinking away my dizziness. Matt grabbed the tambourine and placed it on his head, bopping up and down to make it chingle. I giggled.

The intercom buzzed into life,

"Matt and Charlie. Sound stage. Now." Came Stevens voice. He sounded like he was very willing to send our characters to a sudden and gruesome death so, hand in hand, Matt and I ran back.

The script was passed to us. And it was bad. Or maybe it was good? The little part of me that had erupted a second ago at Matt's smiling face would say it was good. But my modesty, well that disagreed. I looked up and saw Moffat smiling evilly at me.

"Well... At least this is on Torchwood so all the little Whovians don't get to find out what the Doctor does in his spare time..." Matt chuckled. How was he being so cool about this? I tried laughing. It came out nervous and forced. 

"Ha, yeah. Will they actually be filming today?" I asked, trying not to sound panicked. 

"Yeah. Come On Charlie." He said and he grabbed my hand and dragged me toward the trailers to learn lines.

Two hours later, they were being put to the test. The current set was a large maze that the team had been chasing the monster through After the alien had attacked us, we were all separated from each other by enormous pieces of metal machinery. We lay on our backs, coughing from the smoke of the explosion. I knew the lines, it was easy to pick them up whilst watching Matt's lips form them. And the fact that I was good at learning them helped too.

"Doctor?" I spluttered, pretending to be choking on the gas. Matt stood up and fell down, being dazed from the explosion. He sniffed the gas and then started pulling out a handkerchief from his front pocket and clasped it to his mouth.

"Alex, don't breathe. This is what Hydrachanges do. They poison the air."

"Poison!" I gasped, though the coughs.

"Well, it's a poison of sorts. It changes the mind, like a poison. It makes you do things you wouldn't normally." He reeled off. I began blinking to show confusion and slowly walked towards Matt, aware of what I was about to do. The director had been clear enough.

"Doctor, you're hot, you know that?" I said, I waited for Matt to look confused, drop the handky and take a deep breath like he was going to speak before diving on him. My hands roamed his body and deep down I knew this wasn't completely acting. I wanted this. I wanted him.

Like our very first day on set, he struggled a little, but after a few deep breathes of the 'poison', his hands found my waist and tugged me closer. The director shouted instructions and I followed. My hand went under his jacket and began untucking his shirt. I pushed the jacket off his shoulders and went for the braces. I had always wanted to ping them. But I got stopped before I could.

"CUT! Right, Now in the script it goes to River and Rhys. So, If you want to remove your shirt, Matt and Charlie, if you could undo a few buttons on your shirt. That should look like we've been gone a bit." I giggled. Well, Torchwood basically meant Doctor Who only dirtier. Maybe I could play this drugged up Alex a little over the top? I undid 5 buttons, ruffled up my hair as if Matt's hands had been running through it and stood ready again. Matt's shirt was gone and I resisted temptation to inspect the view, deciding to let my hands to the work. We were instructed to improvise to a certain degree. Matt and I looked at each other and smirked. There was a trace of real longing in his eyes that was getting hard to ignore.

"ACTION" Matt's lips collided with mine, which reacted with such ferocity that even I was taken aback. His hands ran through my hair and over my back and everywhere. He then pulled back;

"Alex, think, it's infecting me too, but it's in your mind more. Come on, clear your head!"

"Shut up, I've wanted to do this for ages!" I grabbed him and kissed him, letting my hands wonder to his fly just like what the script said. His trousers fell to the ground. I removed my lips to undo my trousers. But Matt grabbed my shoulders before I could.

"Come on Alex, the mist is getting thicker, we can't do this. But I'm finding it hard to stop, you have to help!" He said, He was pleading with his eyes, and for a moment I found it hard to carry on as it looked real. But then I thought of the script and what I wanted and my jeans fell to the floor...


	4. A Plot Twist And A Half

My trousers were around my ankles and Matt's hand on my thigh. I was beginning to really get into the situation when... 

"CUT!" The director, Daniel Marsden, shouted. For once, I was actually tempted to ignore him, but I did as I was told. He walked over to us, clutching his version of the script. "Charlie, you were great. You really understood the characters emotion and sexual attraction to the Doctor. Matt, I know it would be easy to buckle under Charlie's attempts, but you have still got to act like you don't want it. Think about it, you're different species. Nobody wants mutant children." The director spoke in a matter of fact way, it was hard to tell that he was joking, but Matt cracked a smile.

I was surprised. Matt had been too eager, did that mean? No, I mustn't tell myself that, it would only end in trouble. But I couldn't help but let my mind wonder, the days we had been spending together had been more and more intimate. Never say never.

"Okay, Steven said that you could have your scripts early for tomorrows scene, as its really important," I took the script from Dans hands whilst he spoke "The thing is, I want some genuine hate and love shown towards the Doctor. So can you guys go off now and work on that? This is for an adult audience and they're usually more picky than kids. It's got to be beyond perfect." I nodded and we were dismissed to the trailers. When we arrived, Matt decided to do his video diary.

"Hello, erm you're not confidential any more are you? Urm what should I call you?" He said to the camera before turning and asking my assistance.

"Just call it Confidential, rebel a little." I said, winking at him but continuing to make a cup of tea.

"Okay. Hello Confidential. Day 5 on the beautiful Torchwood set. Lots of interesting things to mess with and break. But don't tell Barrowman about that. The storyline is a little confusing at the moment. It seems as though Alex and The Doctor are getting a little bit naughty. What else is been going on, Charls? Oh yeah, Moffat and Gattis have been weaving a plan together, not heard much of it yet, but its more evil than Sherlock's jump." He ranted off. I giggled at him and set his tea next to him before joining him in the lens view. "We've just got our scripts for the next part and are about to read it. Why haven't we already learnt it? Isn't that our only job? We are lazy? Is that what I hear you say, well Steven is being very scheming and not allowing us to see the whole storyline. It's as if he is hiding something from us."

I shook my fist whilst saying "Moffat!" Matt joined in.

"Okay, so the DW facebook page has been asking you guys to send in your questions for me and Charls. So we've got an Amanda from Hull," Matt said, looking at the first question on the sheet of paper. 

"Hi, Amanda!" I said.

"Amanda wants to know whether we listen to a lot of music on set." Matt looked up from the letter and smiled at the camera before turning to look at me, obviously wanting me to answer first.

"Yeah, well I do. I spend a lot of time in my trailer blasting out The Black Keys at anti-social volumes, to tell the truth. Hang on, that sounds as if I don't do any work. I do work. It's just this job involves a lot of hanging around. Not that I'm moaning. It's great." I smiled at the camera, trying to hide the fact that I was stumbling over sentences as Matt had accidentally brushed hand on my thigh. It was weird to think that the lightest of touches from him were sending me crazy when I had been eating his face off a not that long ago. 

"Well, as you probably know, I am a music extraordinaire and, like many other connoisseurs of a good old tune, will know instantly if it's worth a listen." Matt said, in a imitation of a old fashioned BBC voice. I cracked up. But that was mainly because he had a massive double chin from the face he was pulling. I leaned forward and grabbed the questions sheet. I looked through and selected one that I wanted to know Matt's answer to.

"Have any of the other cast members ever caught your eye? For example, Matt did you ever want to ask Alex Kingston on a date after getting up and personal with River Song?" I looked at Matt. He looked back at me. There was something weirdly meaningful in the gaze, like he wanted to say something. His eyes flicked quickly to the camera, then back to mine before 

"Well, Alex Kingston is a very sexy woman, I won't deny it. But I dont think I'm enough for her if I'm being honest. Plus, she was married. What about you Charlie?"

"My dad fancies Alex Kingston, but she's not really my type. I know, only joking. I wont lie, I quite fancy Aneurin Barnard who is playing Jamie. But, I fancy basically anyone." I said, smiling. 

"Okay, next question. Charlie, what's your full name?" Matt said, acting like he was ignoring my answer. Had I hit a nerve?

"Okay, before I tell you I just want to say, my parents were a massive fan on indie rock, and I was born in 1990 so, just bear that in mind. Okay, it's Charlatan Andrea Howards. My mum didn't realise that Charlatan meant con man so it was always weird. But to be honest, I find it kind of ironic that I ended up an actress, because they are basically conmen?" I raised my hands in a ' I dont know' gesture. Matt looked at me, bemused. I avoided eye contact by looking at the script, then I noticed the scene we had been given was scene 7. I motioned to Matt that I was moving to the other side of the trailer and he nodded as he was in the middle of another one of his camera rants. This was it. I discover the plan. What if it wasnt what I wanted? Would I be disappointed even if Steven wasnt trying to set Matt and I up like everyone was suggesting? I opened to the page and began reading, tension in my gut making me temble slightly. 

The scene is dreary and musty. There is no light reaching Alex and the Doctor. Through the air, you can hear a slight rustle of clothing. It is almost as if the Doctor and Alex are doing they shouldn't be. The camera pans across bits of ship and rubble from the explosion in the hospitial. The camera follows the same path as before, expecting to see Alex and the Doctor in the same intimate situation as the previous scene. Instead the area is bare. The ward of the hospital is clear. The only sign of the Doctor's presense previously is the sonic screwdriver on the floor. So faint it could almost be missed by someone, there is a small trace of blood around the floor. There is a sound of footsteps. A door at the end of the ward bursts open and in walks Ianto Jones. He surveys the scene, his face pale. He should be dead so his walk is weak but he makes towards the sonic screwdriver and picks it up.

Ianto: Jack must know about this.

Jack: About what? 

The camera pans to find Jack Harkness standing, watching Ianto. He doesn't look happy to see him.

Jack: Ianto. Leave. 

Ianto: Why Jack?

His voice is full of hurt and anger. He seems confused by Jack's anger. 

Jack: Because it's not you. When the TARDIS crashed here, it cause the rift to open to maximum copacity, feeding time energy over Cardiff along with so many other things. You were in the vaults. They are part of the default system. When anything major happens to the rift, the excess energy is fed down there. Of course, we didnt know the affect it would have on the bodies down there until, well, until it was too late.

Jack and Ianto share a look. 

Ianto: What happens now?

Jack goes to answer before seeing the screwdriver. 

Jack: What's that?

Ianto: I dont know. 

Ianto hands it to Jack. 

Jack: It's the sonic screwdriver. But is shouldnt be this colour. The orange light it must mean something. 

Jack presses the button and a hollogram appears. It's of Alex. She is bloody and only wearing her underwear, there is something wrong with her eyes. They are flashing orange. When she opens her mouth, she sings a simple haunting tune;

Alex: A dozen bodies came inside

A dozen bodies due to die

Millions of people with no trust

Driven by hatred and lust

What happens when a mighty race

Can't see the plans hidden pace

How many more must face the fight

And find themselves lost inside

Jack: What the?

There is a load noise from behind them and they turn. The camera pans the ward to find The Doctor, blood around his evil smile, leaning against a door frame.

Doctor: Did you miss me?

 

I slammed the script shut, thoroughly creeped out. I remembered what it was like watching a Doctor Who episode when something like this happened. It was worse knowing that I could've easily find out if everyone wasn't being so awkward.

Matt walked over and looked at me. 

"I've finished the video. Are you okay?"

"Yeah."

"Did you miss me?" He said, meaning to tease but it stirred up images of him covered in blood, the bad guy. It actually frightened me.


	5. The Glasses

"So, this camera will make me look like a hologram when we actually put it all together?" I said as I knelt and looked down the cameras view point. The set was rather impressive. It was a room, but there ad been piping and rubble added to make it seem rundown and scary. I was wrapped in a thick coat to keep myself as the only other thing I was clothed in was my undies. Matt was in the make up trailer getting covered in blood. Or so I thought.

"Boo!" The sudden whisper in my ear made me jump up. He was wearing his dorky square glasses he wore for reading. Underneath his face was splattered with dust, rubble and a large amount of blood. It was strange how he could look terrifying and beautiful at the same time. I caught my train of thought. Had I really just thought that? I had. And it was true. He was beautiful to me. His slightly lopsided smile and the glint of cheeky adorableness that accompanied it. They had been teasing me for so long. But there was a different thing now. 

This was like a switch had been flicked in my mind. I had been hovering over the midway point for too long, no one can stay unsure forever. I kind of loved Matt. I grinned to myself just at that thought. It was nice not being confused. 

Another switch was the fact that I would be spending the whole day near enough naked in front of him. My stomach flipped. I should've lost weight. I should've chosen better underwear. I shouldve...

"Charls?" He said. I knew that my grin grew bigger. I couldn't help it, the way he said my name, it just made the world fade. I looked him in the eyes, smiling for ear to ear. 

"Yes." I said. Everything suddenly had meaning. He looked at me, obviously wondering why I was acting strange. I almost giggled. I didn't fully know why I had suddenly turned into a prat, but it was happening. I looked away to stop myself from laughing and accidentally made eye contact with Mark, and then Steven. They were looking at Matt and I with utmost concentration. I began to think there might be something wrong when suddenly something happened. 

I had one of those moments. Have you ever had that feeling where it feels like your actually just a character in a book or film and whatever you do wont affect you because its not real? I was in a dream like state. I turned to Matt. I took his glasses and put them on, making him look confused. I placed my arms around his neck and brought my face closer to his. 

"Charlie?" He said, his voice soft. I felt so much like my character now, drawn to the Doctor even though she's not sure if he likes her. I kissed his lips for the first time as me. There had always been clues that he had liked me. The first day, where he had said my talents were snogging. Well, all I was doing was putting my skills to the test, and to my surprise, they were received well. 

Matt was nothing like the Doctor. There was no wriggling. He reacted instantly, pulling me as close as physically possible, making me feel amazing. It was like everything had gone into immense clarity. Steven and Mark were applauding from the side of the room. 

"I told you." I heard Steven say to his wife, Sue. 

"What's going on?" Russel said. He must've just walked in. I heard him gasp, only half paying attention for obvious reasons. 

"It's the start of Matlie Smithwards!" John said, and I heard everyone laugh.


	6. The Hydra-Doctor

It had always been the obvious answer that Steven, Mark and Russell weren't showing Matt and me the whole script as they were on a mission to set us up. It turns out not. The script was still being sectioned off into tiny groups of small scenes. The story line had progressed slightly though. So far I had got that:

\- The Doctor and Alex accidentally, well so Alex thinks, crashed at Torchwood.

\- The Torchwood team, consisting of Jack Harkness, Gwen, Rhys , Martha, Jamie and River, have detected some strange rift action

\- Whilst investigating Cardiff City Hospital, the epicentre of the action, we get separated off into pairs by an explosion

\- Gwen and Jack, River and Rhys and The Doctor and Alex are all put under different effects of the alien, a Hydrachange, which increases any instinctive emotions that were already there. 

\- Gwen and Jack are going to have a sexual encounter when Jamie and Martha come and save them, revealing there is something odd going on in the Hub's vaults. 

\- River and Rhys begin arguing. The Hydrachange feeds as much as it can, but there weren't enough emotions towards each other with River and Rhys. 

\- The Doctor and Alex begin to undress each other when the Hydrachange comes and steals Alex, knowing that this will spur The Doctor to save her especially as he is under a high percentage of the gas that will make his emotions towards Alex extremely strong.

That was the beginning of the first episode, with The Doctor vowing to get Alex back and Jack and the rest of the team going to see what was occurring in the vaults. We had completely finished filming that, apart from the opening sequence in the TARDIS between Alex and The Doctor where she asks him about his previous companions other than Sarah Jane and Martha. Today we were continuing with the second episode which was so far like this;

\- Alex is held captive and refuses to give blood samples as the Hydrachange detects something wrong with her DNA. She is tortured and ends up screaming for the Doctor and revealing feelings towards him.

\- The Hydrachange leaves to discover the Doctor. He morphs into the Doctors look alike after biting him. The Hydra-Doctor then goes to interrogate Alex some more using his sexual techniques.

\- Then we go to Jack discovering Ianto in the hospital and the Hydra-Doctor finds them with the creepy poem Alex.

That was all I had, mainly as I was filming the first two bullet points today.

Matt knocked on the door of the trailer and I appeared at the door so fast it made him jump. He laughed and so did I, trying to avoid giving away that I had been waiting for him to knock for half an hour. He leant forward and kissed my cheek.  
"Come on then, miss" He said, offering a hand to me. I took it and walked with him by my side.  
"You're Mr Bad today, are you not?" I asked him, skipping a little. He skipped a bit too.  
"Why yes, I am. And you are being the poor innocent damsel in distress, no?" He asked.  
"I am indeed. You know when we are acting it, just go for it. I am going to be. Steven said I could improvise a little bit." I said.  
"Yeah, I was going to ask you about that. You don't mind if I get into it?" He said, sounding so deliciously professional it was hard not to swoon.  
"Definitely go for it, it might make my acting look better. Otherwise, you'll be amazing and I'll be too busy trying to remember my lines, so you've got to scare them out of me." I said.  
"You're one kinky gal." He said, putting on a very convincing Yorkshire accent. We reached the set and waited. It was an hour later before we were set up and ready to shoot. I was sat in my underwear, supposedly paralysed by the Hydrachange, waiting to act. The actor who was playing the Hydrachange was Simon Farnaby, wrapped up in a large amount of prosthetics, and he was getting instructions. Matt snuck over to the chair I was in and knelt beside me.  
"You must be freezing." He pointed out. I nodded, trying to practise not using my limbs. "Don't worry, Simon's great."  
"Okay, CAN I HAVE EVERYONE IN POSITIONS PLEASE" came the commanding voice of the director. Matt placed a swift kiss on my forehead and rushed over the make-up table to get finished up. "ACTION"  
Simon walked out from the shadows. He looked away from me as he walked.  
"Why is it, Miss Whitehall, you are so full of the emotions I need but you're too reserved to act on them?"  
"Down fall of being British, I'm afraid." He pretended to laugh at my sarcastic remark, before narrowing his eyes at me. He made a swift movement and brought a knife to my neck. I didn't even flinch. My character was supposed to laugh in the face of death. Only mine though. He pressed, not hardly but it would look it.  
I screamed. "Doctor!"  
"Dead. Sorry."  
"NO!"  
"Yep. Soz. Why does it matter? No one cares for him. He's the loneliest thing in the universe. No one wants him."  
"I do. I want him."  
"He doesn't want you." I saw out of the corner of my eye Matt move from the make-up area towards his set. The sound guys knocked something for Simon to react at. He went to have a look, leaving me for a bit. It felt amazing getting a scene in one take. Matt was right, Simon was amazing. It felt real.  
I heard people talking and I guessed they were retaking a scene. Matt had to have blood applied for the Hydra-Doctor scenes, meaning that he would have another 10 minutes in make-up before coming over to do the scene. People kept on coming over and checking on me to see if I was okay. I answered all their concerns with yes. Suzanne came over and reapplied a layer of make-up before we were able to film again. I couldn't see what they had done to Matt, so the surprise of his appearance would be real.  
"ACTION" We were off.  
I stared up at the ceiling, trying to look out of focus. Matt's hand slammed down on my knee. I shot up and looked at him. He looked awful; Blood everywhere and a greenish tint to his skin. Make-up had done an amazing job.  
"Alex. Alex. Alex." He said, a harsh quality to his voice. I looked at his eyes.  
"Doctor?" I said, putting insecurity into my voice.  
"Yes." Matt sat on my knee. He was quite heavy but it was fine. He pushed my hair out of my face and kissed my cheek seductively.  
"Doctor. It might be easier if you got me out of this thing instead of snogging my face, oh." I said, his had was on my waist. He nibbled at my neck. I tried not to think about how nice the feeling was and convey Alex's emotions. I would become her instead. "What is this?"  
"We should do this more often, Alex. In the what's it called."  
"The TARDIS?"  
"Yes." He was kissing my neck, making me tilt my head back. I sighed. "When we arrived in the..."  
"Torchwood Hub?"  
"Yes." He was sucking on the edge of my lip between words. "We should've stayed in and done this in the what's it room.."  
"Control room." I answered. I was being Alex, too wrapped up in her own amplified emotions to care about what information she was giving away. She was supposed to become un-paralysed about now and I straddled him. It was the second time in this shoot that I was so close to getting naked with Matt. I didn't mind about the fact that it was going on camera. I had it easy, Burn who had played Owen in the old series had basically gone the whole hog on screen and I had been in things before Doctor Who which had included nudity clauses. It was the person I was with that made all the difference. Matt was stripping down to his pants. We were being instructed what to do and I followed, adding my own little improvisations in as we went. Matt wrapped his arms around me, pulling me so close I could feel his stomach on mine. He had a 'modesty' patch on so he wasn't fully naked, and Alex wasn't supposed to fully strip. We had reached the moment I had been dreading since I read it. I was supposed to remove my bra; Always awkward when surrounded by cameras. But I did it. Matt kissed me so passionately that my knees would've buckled if I hadn't have been sitting.  
"Where's the TARDIS key?"  
"It's in Jack's coat." I gasped. Matt then pushed me off him. I fell to the ground, the noise was worse then the actual impact.  
"Thank you, Miss Whitehall. We're going to get the key from the coat and then scare your little friends away from my nest." I stared up at him, acting scared.  
"CUT!"


	7. Cybers

John, Matt and I were sat on the train heading towards London. The sun was fresh in the August sky and everything seemed so chilled that I found myself drifting off into a trance whilst admiring Matt. That was, until, I heard a very loud, very high pitched squeal from the seat next to me. John looked down as his iPhone gleefully. 

"Well, isn't this just the cutest thing?" He said, gushing with happiness. I peered over to what he was looking at, but couldn't see properly until he wrapped his arm around me and pulled me close. He was on his Twitter and had been sent a fan made video. I smiled,

"Aw, that's lovely." I said.

"I bet you have some fan girls and boys on the internet. Have you got Twitter?" He asked. I nodded.

"@CharlieHowardsUK. But I haven't been on it in a while. It was set up on my old phone and I have been too busy to set it up on this one." I said. I was very doubtful I had anybody paying attention to me. I wasn't as striking or as impressive as the other companions. And only a couple of episodes in? The fandom would be having their heartbroken by Matt's cheeky attraction to notice me. 

"Well, we can easily see how much people are obviously adoring you. I can type your name in the search box. There's a new episode tonight so there's sure to be a lot of hype." John punched in my name. I couldn't help but look as the top tweets began to load.

"@TARDISfan890: Alex Whitehall and The Doctor are my new OTP! Lovin Charlie" Was at the top with 100+ RT's

"@MolsBols42: Charlie Howards has sass #GoGirl" was underneath. John pointed to that one, then turned and grinned at me. But I had began to see the tweets underneath.

"@BadwolfRosie: What even is this? Script's fine but Howards can't even act! #InterestLost" 

"@artieconanwhat: Nice one Moffat, choose a girl who's killed #DoctorWho for me! Have to come back when Charlie's gone" 

"@Pondfever: I want Amy back!" 

"@WhutsernameWay: The Doctor's married to River! Stop flirting with the Northern trash that is Charlie Howards" I was shocked at the last one. I wasn't even from the North! I was from Derby! John had obviously read them too as he scrolled past quickly. Sure, there were tweets from people saying they liked me, but the majority seemed to hate me.

Matt looked up from his newspaper when I sniffed. I would not cry. I would NOT cry. He looked at my face and realised something was wrong.

"Hey, what's up?" He quickly came and sat next to me with his around my shoulder. His hand was on my hair, sroking it softly as I fought back tears.

"That Doctor Who fans hate me!" I choked, failing on keeping my voice emotionless. It wasn't the only thing I had failed at. Obviously, I had not managed to persuade the public to stick with me. They said I had 'sass' but that wasn't a sign they liked me, or even true. I was a massive Doctor Who fan myself and couldn't cope with the idea of being a hated companion. I turned my head into Matt's shoulder, not crying, but only by a fraction. 

"They will come around. They don't hate you. They hate change and probably miss Karen. It happened to me. I had to replace David Tennant! The man who made Doctor Who a success again! A fangirls one true love! People thought I was just a kid! I bet that is you logged onto your Twitter account, you will find a mountain of messgaes about how amazing you are. I think you are amazing." He leant into my ear before whispering "You're my favourite companion ever." I looked up at him, turning bright red.

"Really? Even more than Sarah-Jane or Rose or River or even Amy?" I sniffed, sounding as unsexy as humanly possible.

"Yes, even more than all of them. You want to know why? You are the perfect British girl. You don't just jump onto the TARDIS, you think its a hoax. You are even more of a crazy scientist than the Doctor himself, which is exactly what he needs. You're the best of all the companions."

"And you wear some great clothes!" John addded. 

"Sometimes the audience don't know what they want until it's spoon fed them." Matt said. 

"But how do I make them like me?" 

"Just be yourself." John and Matt said in unison.

They had so much honesty in their eyes that it was impossible not to trust them. So, when the time came to do the questions in the interview room, I was calm, collected and confident. There was no reason for these people to judge me on a character that someone else had come up with. Now was the time to sell myself. Charlie Howards, not Alex Whitehall.

I took my seat, next to Matt, in front of the journalist. They all raised their hands to ask questins and my manager chose one. A lean man carrying a camera began to speak. 

"Charlie, how long are you planning to stay on Doctor Who and what would you like to do in the future?"

I thought for a minute before answering.

"I'll stay as long as people want me. I haven't had any offers at the moment, but I would really like to branch out into alternative comedy. And, of course, work with Matt again. Or maybe stick with a perminant role on Torchwood instead of Doctor Who?"

Matt's manager then picked a question for him, but the panic from earlier had set into my gut. Nobody really new how close Matt and I were and probably wouldn't until the DVD's of the series was released with all the behind the scenes banter on. What if the journalists thought I was being possessive or obsessive? My knee began shaking purely out of nerves and I began to feel faint. Matt must've felt something was wrong because he held my hand tenderly under the desk as he listened to the question he was being asked.

"Mr. Smith, you have been romantically linked to Billie Piper, Daisy Lowe and Karen Gillan over the past few years, are you still single or are any of the rumours true?" I accidently squeezed Matt's hand out of shock, fear and anticipation. Did we count as a relationship? He squeezed my hand back.

"Well, I am in the early stages of a relationship, not with any of those you mentioned though. We are still sorting things out, but it looks promising." He grinned and I felt my insides melt. I probably went bright red because the cameras started flashing and people were scribbling down extra notes. I felt my confidence come back again and the rest of the interview went smoothly with Matt's reassurance and support. 

At the end of the day, Matt and I were snuggled up together on the train back to Cardiff. Matt was reading his new part of the script as I set up my Twitter account on my new phone. As soon as I clicked 'sign in', my phone was buzzing with notifications. I clicked on interactions, expecting some awful messgaes, but what I got was;

"@PondlifeGal: @CharlieHowardsUK was laughing and crying along with you! You're my new idol"

"@StarGirl97: Shouldn't be crushing on @CharlieHowardsUK as much as I am!"

"@JohnlockSmith: Matt Smith and @CharlieHowardsUK make a super cute couple"

"@GallaghrDW: @MarkGattis @CharlieHowardsUK @BBCDoctorWho WOW! Omg can NOT wait for next week! #BringIt"

Matt read a few and smiled.

"Told you so." He said smugly. I gently smacked him before kissing his cheek and settling down to reply to the kind messages from my new fans.


	8. A Lazy Day With Mr Smith

It was one of those days on set where we needed to do absolutely nothing. So, of course, we were sitting in Matt's trailer. Normally, I would've been a bit more sociable, but I needed to catch up on my emails. I went on Google, aiming to type my name into the 'sign in' box on Gmail, but typing it in the search box instead.

Up came a wide range of results. Pictures of Alex Whitehall throughout the series, Matt was up there a couple of times. Then I noticed I had a wikipedia, so I clicked and had a look.

"Full Name: Charlatan Andrea Howards.  
Born: 24 November 1990  
Occupation: Actress" Above this was a large picture of me on the set of Doctor Who. I was wearing Alex's costume of a plaid skirt and red jumper with my hair pulled back in a head band, curls left to flop over. I liked the picture, so I didn't mind it too much. I was interested to see about the biography.  
"Charlatan, or Charlie, Howards was born in Sheffield. She was raised there with her mother, Sarah; father, Jack; brother, Jarvis and sister, Sally until the age of 12 when the family moved to Derby. Howards obtained all A's and A*'s in her GCSE and followed getting A*'s in her A Level's in Drama, English and Biology."   
I stared at the screen in shock. How on Earth did whoever wrote this know about my grades? It was very odd.   
"At the age of 17, Howards was persuaded into starting a professional drama class by her teacher. From there she stared in productions of Fame, A Midsummer's Night Dream, A Christmas Carol and Romeo And Juliet. Her talents were discovered when she stared in a production of An Inspector Calls, where she played Sheila Birling. From there, Howards was offered a role in the BBC TV show, Ashes To Ashes. This was her first screen role, which led on to minor parts in Outnumbered and the IT Crowd.   
"Charlie Howards first came into the public eye when she was cast as the supporting female on the long running TV show, Doctor Who, playing Alex Whitehall, the Doctor's new assistant. Her performance is received well by critics and she has been popular with the fans. There has been rumours of Howards departure from the show in 2014, during the christmas special of the show.'  
I looked at the last bit, confused. I had never said anything of the sort. Who ever started these 'rumours' were lying. My eyes scanned down to the 'personal life' section.  
"Howards is an avid musician, and has reported that her favourite bands are Biffy Clyro and The Beatles.  
She has been romantically linked with Dougie Poynter of McFly, after Poynter posted a link to her performance on Doctor Who on Twitter with the comment 'look at my girl'. There were also rumours of a brief relationship with previous Doctor Who companion, Arthur Darvill after some shots of Darvill were taken with a girl who looked like Howards.  
Charlie lives in Manchester with her cat, Barnacle."   
I looked at the relationship bit with utter bemusement. Who had even written this article? I had never met Dougie Poynter and had been completely unaware of this tweet about me until now. The Arthur Darvill bit was a load of rubbish too! I had only met Arthur once when he visited Matt on set of Doctor Who, but we hadn't really spoke.   
I clicked back onto Google again when a url caught my eye.   
"Oh no." I sighed.  
"What?" Matt said, poking his head up from the fridge were he had been rummaging for food.  
"They've made a Tumblr about me." I said, mournfully. Matt laughed, before re-entering the fridge like it was Narnia.   
I couldn't help myself. I clicked the link, which was charliehowardsdw.tumblr.com.  
The suspense was killing me as the page loaded up.  
There were GIF's of me smiling at Matt from a particularly sweet bit of the series. And one of me breaking down into tears, which I had the feeling was now a reaction GIF. There was the picture that had been released when I was announced as the next companion, me looking sullen at the camera in black and white. I spotted some from my first day of filming, all those months ago. There were theories about my character, as the reason she was picked to travel in the TARDIS was still unknown. I liked the one about Alex being the Master's daughter who will help the Master be forgiven for his actions, even though I didn't think it was correct. I must've clicked something, because suddenly I was in the slightly scarier side of tumblr. There was a clip from Ashes To Ashes when I had played a golddigger character who murdered her husbands. I was in my underwear and clambering on someone. The next image was Matt in a previous film, kissing a womans neck. I didn't have to look through the rest of the GIFset to know that who ever made it was going to like Torchwood christmas special this year. I didn't really want to see any more so I went back onto Gmail and began replying to my family. I opened the first of the four emails that weren't automated. I clicked the first one and began reading.  
"Hey lala,  
So you finally get to work on something massive and it just so happens to be your favourite show? Lucky bitch! You'll have to let me come and visit the set. I know what you're going to say, it's super top secret. WHO CARES! I'm your sister. Let me visit!   
Anyway, found any sexeh men? I know you like the nerd type, so you should be swimming in your kinda guys! I watched the episode that was on the other night and the guy who played Sarah-Jane's son is a bit of alright. I know, I know. You go for the older man, but still! Oh, and the Doctor guy. Yeah. 10/10 would. Mind you, I bet you're already working on that one.  
Okay, got to go. I'm babysitting Gemma for Jarvis and Mads later and you know what they're like with the organic produce!   
See you later, lil sis!  
Sals xoxoxoxoxoxox"   
It was so typical of my sister to know me that well. I had laughed at the older guy comment, more of the fact that it was true than anything else. I really missed her, and I told her a million times in the reply. I also mentioned that I had got myself a snog, but didn't say who from. I ended it with 'give my love to Tone and keep your eye out for a shoutout on TV ;), Love you sissikins, Charlalalala xoxoxo'. She'd probably forget to tell her boyfriend that I sent my love, but that was life.   
I clicked on the attachment she had sent and a picture came up. Sally and Tony were sitting on the wall outside my favourite chip shop back home. Sally's auburn hair was dyed green towards the bottom, making her pale skin even paler. Her blue eyes were crossed and she had a chip poking out of her mouth, but she still managed to have that tomboyish beauty about her. Tone was raising a can of Fosters in one hand and a kebab in the other like a typical Australian. His brown eyes were covered by shades and his blonde hair was blowing in the wind. I saved the picture to my laptop and went to open the next email.  
"Charlie!  
Hey kiddo! How are things down your end? Their great up here. Mads and Gemma want me to say that they are missin you lots and cant wait to see you soon. Gemmas sending you a postcard so keep a look out for that. Thanks for her birthday present. What could a 6 year old want more than a ticket to meet the Blue Peter guys? That was awesome.   
Ive bin watchin the Doctor Who seires none stop and telling every one that your my sister! I am one proud big bro! Theyve named a school project after you at the school and Gemmas judgin! Of course she's probably goin to pick her mates but its the thought that counts.   
When do you recken we can come up and see you? We were plannin to take the van to Tredegar house which is near Cardiff way if you want to meet up?  
Hope to see you soon  
Jay x"   
My brother's grammar had not improved since I came to Wales, which was a shame, considering I bought him a book to help him sort it not long ago. He too had included an attachment and I clicked it. Matt walked over and had a nosey as the video began. My niece, Gemma, was sitting amongst a pile of presents. Her blonde ponytail was falling out and her she was wearing Mr Men pyjamas, which told me she had just got out of bed. I saw my brothers hand go in front of the lens and heard him say "Gem, open that one. It's from aunty Charlie!" Gemma picked up the present, opening the bulky bit first, like any child would. "She's got me some gold chocolate coins and a teddy!" Gemma said, holding them up to the camera. "Open the envelope." Mads, Jarvis's wife, said. Gemma ripped open the envelope and opened the card. Out fell the tickets to the Blue Peter Studio Tour. She picked them up and studied them, clearly not reading the writing before passing them to her mum. "Sweetie, do you know what they are?" Said Jay. Gemma shook her head. "They're tickets to see Blue Peter!" Mads said. The video ended on Gemma's face, full of shocked delight.   
Matt giggled into my shoulder.   
"She's adorable." He said. I nodded. He set about making a cup of tea whilst I replied to Jarvis, promising to meet up with him on Cardiff Bay when they come and visit. I attached a picture of the Bay that Matt had taken of me smiling and waving in front of the Millenium Centre.   
I had two more unread emails; one from Mum and Dad and one from Louise, my old best friend. I opened mum and dads first.  
"Hey Tink,  
Your mother and I are just writing to let you know that we miss you lots and lots. Jay, Mads, Sal, Tone and Gemma are missing you too but I think they are sending their own letters.   
We were watching the episodes of the last series and thought you were stunning and everyone back home are very proud of you, but no one more than us. My favourite bit is seeing your name in the opening sequence. I have never been more proud of you.   
We will be sending you a care package, something that your aunt Wallace told us about, later in the month with all your favourite things from back home. I'm not sure about the delivery times, so let us know.   
Your mother wants to know if you have found yourself a fella out there. You know how I feel about the Welsh, but I don't mind you going out with a Taffy if you like him. Remember when you had posters of Matt Smith around your wall? Well, look at you now! There has been a lot of stuff in the rag about you being an inspiration to girls. Your mother's making a scrap book of the articles we can find about you.   
Hope to see you soon, poppit   
Dad"  
"What's your dad got against Welsh people?" Matt said. I thanked who ever was listening that he hadn't focused on the poster bit.   
"He has a track record of loosing things to Welsh people; cars, jobs and money. It's a bit odd, but so is the rest of the family." I replied. Matt laughed and patted my shoulder before leaning in a kissing me. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and pulled him closer. My hands made their way up and knotted in his hair, which was messy. He bit my lip gently and I giggled slightly. He pulled back and looked at me smirking, making me blush heavily.   
"You should tell your mum about us. Who can lie successfully to their parents?" He said. That made me so happy. If we were at parent telling stage, something was going right.


	9. Barrowman's Bitches

"CUT!"

That was a wrap on the second episode, which ended with the world about to blow, of course. There was a definite air of relief around the cast and crew. Freema strolled up to me, a smile playing on her lips.

"You and Matt just make me happy for some reason." She said, sounding a little dreamy. I grinned too. I was feeling the exact same way. His childish demeanour would've stopped anyone else thinking smutty thoughts about him, but it didn't stop me. Not that we had anytime to for fill them. Alex Kingston skipped over and joined Freema and I as we strolled towards the lunch van. I grabbed a box of fish and chips and a can of dandelion and burdock before joining the other two who were sitting on a wall.

"Charlie, can I ask you something?" Alex asked, tentatively.

"Sure." I said, not very ladylike though as my mouth was full of chips.

"If Matt left Doctor Who, would you stay?"

I hadn't been expecting that. I thought about it. Would I?

"Yes." I said. It wasn't about anything that happened off camera, it was about the story. "I'll stay for as long as Moffat has stories to write about my character."

Freema was looking at Alex strangely. My heart suddenly sank. Had they been told that Matt was leaving and didn't know how to tell me. They continued to look at each other, something obviously being silently communicated. I coughed slightly. I didn't like the way this was going. The gap in conversation dragged on, becoming more awkwardly unbreakable with every second. 

"Hey, can I sit with you guys?" A voice suddenly appeared. 

"Sure," I said before turning and meeting the gaze of the least-known member of Torchwood, Jamie, or Aneurin Barnard. The cute welsh lad was a little younger than me, with intense brown eyes and curly dark hair that fell gently across his forehead. I smiled at him and pulled out a chair. He sat down gratefully, the tray of food he was carrying barely squeezing on the already cramped table. 

"You alright?" He asked, rubbing his hands together before opening his bacon sandwich. 

"Yeah. Well. Actually, yep. I'm fine." I said, struggling slightly. Did Aneurin know anything? 

"Well, that's good." He said, taking a bite into his sandwich. There was still 3 spaces left at the table and Eve and Kai claimed two of them. 

"You lot all good then?" Kai said. He was a kind guy and I really got on with him. Eve was lovely too. Torchwood had become like a family on the set. A general conversation started amongst Eve, Freema and Kai and I joined in where suited. 

"Yeah, but there's got to be some overwhelming plot twist in the special somewhere, other than the obvious the-Doctor-is-an-evil-soul-possessing-alien thing that was going on through episode two." 

"I know, this is Moffat with the pen. How come nobody has died?" I asked. 

"Good point. Maybe Mark has had something to say. It is a christmas episode anyway." Kai agreed 

"That's never stopped him before." 

"You want to know what I think?" Aneurin said, leaning forward. "River. I'm a fan of Doctor Who, and I know there's this whole ongoing story line with her and the Doctor. Well, they're divorced. And in a the series that Charlie has just filmed, she's a guiding spirit through the series, leading them to their Christmas episode from what I can gather. Well, our Christmas episode actually airs on the 22nd, 23rd and 24th, meaning it's set before the Doctor Who special. What if River is needed for their episode. Moffat's writing the christmas episode now, has he asked you anything about the casting, Alex?" He asked her. Alex looked like she was thinking it over before saying, 

"I think there was something mentioned, but he's been talking things over with Matt a lot at the moment." She said, carefully. 

My breathing was shallow and I began to panic. I couldn't hold the show without Matt, I needed him. He was the main and only key character, I was the new girl. Why would he not ask me first? Then I thought about it. It was his decision, he had been on the show for 3 1/2 years already, 4 by Christmas, he could leave whenever he needed to. It was only a vague idea anyway, Moffat might be talking to him about anything! Maybe even another project he was working on. The next series of Sherlock wasn't finished filming yet and Matt might've been offered a role in that? 

"Do you think if River left, you'd get someone to replace her on Torchwood?" I asked, following a new train of thought. 

"Well, we have the American branch since Miracle Day, so they might join us. But Russell still likes to keep it a mainly British thing." Eve answered. I nodded and continued to munch at the dinner as the cast of Miracle Day began talking about memories from the set. 

"Hey, Charlie, did you know that Steven, Mark and Russell are thinking of giving you the whole of the next script instead of little chunks?" Freema said. 

"Really?" I asked, excited. I was really keen to know what happened to my character after the Hydra-Change gets Torchwood to come and save her. 

"Yeah, they say there needs to be some stuff you need to put across throughout the episode and it will be easier for you to read the whole script. I got mine today when I was on the break, so yours might be waiting for you in the trailer. It's amazing." she said. I instantly believed her. The whole of the Torchwood Christmas Serial had been so immense. The story line, characters and plottwist were a worthy brain child of the Doctor Who past and present writers. 

"I'm going to have to go back to the trailer to find out, Freema, see you later." I stood up and disposed of my waste before heading towards the trailer park. 

My trailer was next to Matt's and John's. The two of them were sitting on their steps, making conversations about John's dogs. 

"A fine pair of puppies you have there." I heard Matt say as I approached. 

"They have doggy style needs." John replied. One of them barked at Matt. 

"Barrowman, I advise you learn how to keep your bitch under control." 

"Honestly, Matthew, do you kiss your mother with that mouth!" I said, joining him on the steps. 

"Why? Would you rather these dirty lips be directed at someone else?" He said, sexily. He wrapped his arm around my waist. 

"I'll remember that for later." I said, then looked at John, who was grinning like a Cheshire Cat. "What you smiling at, Barrowman?" 

"I just want to dunk the two of you in my coffee, you're just so damn sweet!" He said, letting his camp side rule. I sighed. 

"Why does everyone keep on saying that?" 

"Cause it's true!" 

"Matt, tell him!" I said, turning to look at Matt. He just grinned and tapped my nose. I growled, half annoyed half humorous. 

"Oh, Charls, this arrived for you." He said, dropping a large envelope on my lap. He then began speaking in a German accent. "Vell zen mis Hovards, vat ist in ze rather large und mysterious package?" I giggled. 

"I vill discover now." I opened the package, as I thought, discovering the script. "Ooh! The last script! I love reading the new script!" 

"Yeah, it's almost the best part." Matt and John agreed. 

"I can't wait for the Doctor Who one." I said, hoping to provoke a reaction out of Matt. 

"Um." He said, none committed. I looked at him, noticing for the first time that there was a edge of sadness to him. I lent over and kissed his cheek, realising how hard it would be for him to leave this role he loved. 

"I love you." I said, noting that it was the first time I had said the words to him. He suddenly kissed me hard on the lips, pulling me onto his lap. 

"Well... I'll just... Bye." I heard John say, but I was more focused on the hands straying from my back. 

"Do you want to..." He said, when he surfaced for air. He motioned towards the trailer door and I nodded. I stood, brushed my skirt down as it had ridden up and followed Matt into the room. He began kissing me again, leading me towards the bedroom. He nibbled at my neck and began on my buttons. 

"Charlie, this is a hard time for me, I'm so glad I have you here." He said, leaving it at that. We landed on the bed, finally for filling my dreams.


	10. Where And Back

I kissed him gently on his stubbly neck, drawing faster breath which made my head light from his moving chest. I pulled on his hair, chasing his jawline with soft pecks until our lips met again. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders as his fingers roamed under my t-shirt. We shifted on the bed, him pulling at my hips until I was straddling him. He sat up to deepen the kiss and I hooked my fingers under the hem of his shirt. I felt his tongue dart and part my lips, pushing into my mouth and inspiring me to retaliate. There was a slight fumble with the hooks on my bra, mainly because he was attempting to perform the task with one hand whilst the other slid down the back of my jeans.

The outcome was unimportant, as there were voices coming through the trailer walls. I sat up, pushing Matt's wandering hands off, composing myself. He sat up, sighing, next to me. There was a knock. I walked across the small amount of space and opened the door.

"I told you that you were disturbing something." Was the first words that greeted me. I smiled at the speaker, John, and then looked at who the words had been directed; Steven Moffat and Mark Gattis.

"Hello Charlie, very sorry to be interrupting, erm, you and Matt but is it alright if we discuss something private with him" Mark asked, smiling in a way that was usually associated with bad news. I was preparing to answer when Matt got there first, shouting 'come in!' from behind me and John hooked his elbow through mine, snatching me away.

"Darling, would you like a cup of tea? Coffee? Cocoa? I know it's only 11, but would you like a drink drink?" He was opening his trailer door and starting towards the kitchen. Pulling out a mug for himself, he looked at me, expectant of an answer.

"Oh go on then, I'll have a cuppa." I said, admitting defeat and parking my bum on the sofa. He filled the kettle up and set it off boiling, then he turned and looked.

"Being in the know sucks, huh?" He said.

"I wouldn't know, HE hasn't really told me anything." I replied, trying to act cool about it, as though I wasn't bubbling with bitter annoyance. John tutted.

"Well, that's just not on. But, honey, you can kind of guess, can't you?" He looked strongly at me. I did know. Recently, the smiles and genial attitudes that were so Matt had stopped when the camera has finished rolling. "I've seen it before. David, as in Tennant, was like this too. It's a weird thing they go through. Dave was like this when we were filming the last episodes of series 4 together. Sometimes it was like everything was fine and then, it changed. It's the role, it eventually gets to you."

"But, we've just started this relationship properly. Why is he leaving me on my own, having to carry the weight of the show when people are going to be missing him so much, no one really care about me, it's him!" I said, trying to not sound too upset, but not living up to my career as an actor. John sat down next to me.

"You're an idiot if you believe that to be true. Billie Piper did it, when Chris left. It really helps the fans if they have someone constant to see them through the regeneration. In affect, you're going to be there holding their hands. I'm not saying it won't be hard, but I'll see if Moff will let me come back for an episode in the next series, so you won't be on your own."

"Would you? Oh thank you. I'm really scared I might not like the new guy, or he won't like me." I said, voicing the true worry that had been plaguing me. John smiled.

"Don't be silly. Christopher Eccleston, lovely guy. Replaced by David Tennant, amazing man. Replaced by Matt Smith, charming bloke. You see what I'm trying to say? The won't hire just anybody. They have to be special. They have to be out of this world." I hugged him then for saying that, cause I knew it was true. "And, Matt doesn't want to loose the chance of any future roll because they can't see him as anyone else but The Doctor..."

I sighed.

"I know. Why did I have to find someone I actually liked on a program that never stays still."

"The only constant is change. And hey, I thought you liked me?" John said, earning a light slap. But he was right.

After we had drank our tea and talked for a little while about David Tennant, Billie Piper, Catherine Tate and all the other amazing people who had worked on the show and I had never met, John said it would okay for me to go back to Matt's trailer now.

I knocked on his door and heard footsteps move towards it before the glass of the window was replaced by Matt's face. He looked worn out, but I still ran into his arms and snogged him. He seemed relieved that I had and kissed me back.

"Do you want to go out?" He said.

"Yeah okay." We agreed to meet back in 5 minutes so we could go get changed. I rushed to my trailer, put on a denim skirt, cropped Radiohead shirt and my converse before grabbing my beret and going back to the steps of his trailer. Matt was wearing his Guns n Roses shirt with his skinny jeans and a beany and looked so adorable.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Cardiff Bay! A world of Doctor Who madness!" A mad said to his girlfriend loudly as we walked towards BBC Wales. It was true, the whole place had been used as a set at least once. The couple kissed and sat down on a bench together. I looked at Matt.

The Doctor Who exhibition was on the road in front of us and I smiled and pointed to the TARDIS near it.

"Oh look, there's our ride." I said, knowing the joke was stupid. Matt smiled half-heartedly and looked back towards the Millenium Centre and the Bay.

"Charls, can you remember when you were half way through Year 11 and you're really excited cause you're going to be competing against the rest of the world soon, but also you're scared shitless because you will no longer be the thing that school has made you into?" He said, and his voice was flaking with some emotion. I knew where this was going, but it still broke my heart hearing it. "Then you're suddenly in May and the exams are coming and it's the hard bit that you've been dreading but preparing for the whole time you were there. And after that, the first time the paper is placed in front of you, you know there is definitely no going back. You're going to be on the other side, looking around where you used to hang around with your best mates who are going to different colleges and getting jobs and you wish that you could've stopped time before everything became real?"

"Matt..." I tried to say, but I could feel the tears forming in my eyes like the ones blooming in his.

"Charlie. I've got to go now." He said, almost making it sound like it was my choice. I had made him leave.

"Why have you 'got to'?" I said, noticing the change in my tone.

"Because if I don't now, I'll get stuck here." He said, full of emotion.

"So? The people who watch the show love you, you're breaking thousands of hearts when they find out."

"Charlie, I want to have a career. I want to do movies and stuff."

"You want to run off to America?" I said, knowing that I was getting angry for no reason. Well, not no reason. Because I was upset and terrified of doing this job without him. He had been the only constant star that I had.

"I'm not running off Charlie." He said, almost breaking down. He covered his face, breathed deeply and then composed himself. He looked around and then down at me and smiled. "Do you want to go have a look inside the Doctor Who exhibition?"

"Okay." I said, trying to calm down too, but really I was fast approaching hysterical. Matt was what? My boyfriend now? And he hadn't even talked to me about leaving, not even suggested it once. It had been happy and smiles and kissing on set, there was nothing said by anyone until Alex accidentally let something slip.

Matt lead me towards the exhibition. It was a tuesday afternoon in the middle of May, so the amount of people inside was about 10% of it's usual capacity. But still Matt and I had to quickly scurry through to the counter.

"Hey, it's me." Matt said, smiling. "Can me and Charlie go through in-between the tours?"

The man at the desk nodded. "They're adding some props to the back rooms so people have to be guided through there as well. It should be quiet for you, Mr Smith." There was a short wait for the next tour to leave and get far enough round for us to slip in, but finally we entered the exhibition. At first there was a room, the contents of which were random props from the series since the comeback. Old Magpie TV sets, paintings and a whole range of other oddments. After a while an automated video of Matt came on.

"Hello? Hello! Oh. I seem to have got stuck again! The pandorica two, clever old aliens..." The man himself stood next to me as the video played. I noticed how much he had changed since it had been on, he seemed to have matured immensely into a gorgeous, kind man.

"Stop staring at me." He said.

"How can I? You're every where." I said, only half joking.

"Look, I know you're pissed but..."

"Shush." I said and pointed to the video, pretending to be listening to it.

After it had finished we moved onto the next room. The original console Matt had. It was amazing. I twiddled a few dials before looking up and catching Matt's eye. We recited some lines from the series we had finished.

"Yes, but Doctor, surely even Timelords have girlfriends."

"Of course I have girlfriends, you're my girlfriend."

"I'm your what?"

"You're my girlfriend."

"I don't think so mate."

"But you're female and you travel through time"

"Doesn't mean we have any serious relationship... Stuff going on."

"What?" He said. I giggled, because when we had filmed this scene way back in September, I had never really considered a real relationship with Matt. Now look.

We moved on then, to the Daleks. There was a recorded message from Davros and Matt before we were hurried along so not to be caught up with the next guided tour. Matt and I moved into the next room to be greated by darkness. Lights flashed and flickered around and through the fake plastic trees and dry ice, there were Weeping Angels. Genuinely suprised, I grabbed onto Matt's arm. He pulled me close into a hug and laughed slightly. For an ironic moment, everything was fine as we stood in the dark foggy room. Then the moment passed. Next was the Pandorica chamber, were a 3D movie was meant to be shown, but as we had no tour guide, we had no glasses, but I guess that didnt matter as I had the man himself next to me. The doors finally swung open and we entered what was meant to be the self guided area of the exhibiton. All eleven of the Doctors suits were arranged around the room along with other iconic props, such as sonic screwdrivers and TARDIS'. I walked up to David Tennant's famous brown suit and trenchcoat and looked. For a moment I realised that I was a part of this 50 year strong story, I was involved with the Doctor, every man who had wore each of these suits. I wondered if Matt was feeling it as well, because I heard him sigh.

Just around the corner was David Tennant's TARDIS console. I stared at it, the space where some of my favourite episodes had been filmed. There was a screen in the background playing his dying sequence. I choked on the tears as he strolled mourfully towards the console for the last time, twiddling a few dials and sighing before finally standing straight to the camera.

"I don't want to go..." I felt the first fat tear roll down my cheek as I turned to Matt, who was walking towards me. He seemed to understand what I was pleading with my eyes and shrugged his shoulders.

"It's true, I dont." He said.

"I know."

"No, you dont. Do you? Why are you so set on making this so much worse for me?" He said, sounding genuinely confused.

"Because I'm a manipulating bitch." I said, trying for a sarcastic defence.

"No, Charlie, you're not."

"Don't be so sure, I might be subliminally making you say that."

"You knew that being an actress meant so much change, so why did you choose to do this job when you obviously hate it?" He called after me as I jogged up the stairs towards the rest of the props. I heard him clatter up after me.

The next open area was teh companions clothing and other monsters and frankly, it was amazing. There was so much to look at, I didnt know where to start. Then I saw it.

"I'd like one of these for the trailer." I said, pointing so that Matt would come and have a look. It was the naked picture of him that a princess had be doing in the beginning of series 6. Matt walked over, curious, and then looked at me with annoyance after seeing it.

"I'm trying to have a serious conversation with you, and all youre doing is running away."

"Oh, I'm running away am i?" I turned on him. "Matt, I just wanted us to work together as a couple for a bit longer. I just wanted some more details. I just wanted to be told sooner. It's horrible finding things like this out just before they happen. And you don't seem to like the fact that I'm upset, which is really annoying me. You know what, finish the tour on your own. I'm going to the studios." I said, before walking off and leaving him, totally out of steam.


	11. Sometimes It's Simply A Nice Dream

"Cut!" There was a void of sound, when everyone breathed. Then everyone smiled. "Congratulations everyone! That's a golden wrap!" We had done it, saved Cardiff from an alien invasion as well as being attacked from resurrected Torchwood member, the Doctor had restored Alex from the Hydrachange. Relief was an understatement. There had been a mixture of serious moments, romantic moments and hilarious moments throughout the several months of filming. John, Freema and I had bonded so deeply throughout this time. And Matt and I? We were definitely not the same as before. 

"We would like to thank Matthew, Charlie, John, Freema, Eve, Alex, Kai, Aneurin and all of the crew! Thank you Steven, Mark and Russ for the talent that is your writing." Said Aidrian, the director of the episode. "There is a two month gap before I see a few of you for the Doctor Who Christmas special, but still enjoy August and September before we reunite!" We were dismissed. Of course, there was an after party! We were in Wales after all!! We walked down to the sound stage, which was now resembling a 70's disco, and all grabbed a drink. I chose a gin tonic from the table and joined Freema and Eve on the homemade dance floor. 

"Charlie! Don't be a stranger!" Eve wailed, already head over heels in the summer party mood. 

"I won't, pinky swear." I said, but the music had started; Uptown Girl loud enough to make your ears bleed. I can stand Billy Joel as much as the next person, but this was just a bit too much. Eve laughed as I rolled my eyes and mimed shooting myself. Freema laughed too, pointing past my head. I turned and saw John shimmying towards us. He grabbed my arm and span me under his arm. 

"Charlie, my darling, there's something so... Intense about you of late." 

"What can I say, it's the' I flicked by hair before ending "Torchwood effect." John seemed to like that, and creased up laughing. We danced together on the pratically empty improvised floor, doing the macarena to Elton John and attempting to gather everyone for a bit of Steps '5,6,7,8' which ended with Eve, John, Freema and I walking around like constipated cowboys. Like every disco, the music was complete cheese. Until the requests came piling in. First was the Time Warp, which drew a large crowd to the disco ball, then came She Loves You. Eventually, the couple dances were polling more popular. Drums started up and a familiar piece of music drowned the room. 

"Two jumps in a week, I bet you think that's pretty clever, don't you boy?" Thom Yorke sang, high notes echoing dryly throughout. Matt walked away from the speakers, drawing the conclusion that he requested it, though it was pretty obvious as Radiohead was his favourite band. I grabbed the moment by the sleeves and snatched him before he could reach his solitary station he had been situated in all night. 

"Dance with me." I yelled, he nodded and I pulled him towards the dance floor. The moment slowed to a sluggish near-stop. It was an hour squeezed into a second where memories were someone elses and you could start over. 

"I love you." I said. The hands around my waist pulled me into Matt's warm chest. He kissed the top of my head, following up with my neck, and the tilting my chin to look me directly in the eye. 

"I love you too." He said. I smirked. I stroked the close cut hair on the back of his neck and hugged him closer, his head in my neck. I hoped that the many units of alcohol I had consumed wouldn't wipe this memory from me tomorrow morning, because when I swayed there on that spot, with Matthew Smith's soft breath on my neck, I felt infinite. 

The passion of the moment dragged me into his trailer that night, and the following night. Then we were separated. The time had come for us to depart on our lives away from set. I was meeting Jarvis, Mads and Gemma in Cardiff and riding home with them, where as Matt was flying to America. 

My brother smiled widely at me as I skipped across, arms laden with presents for Gemma. His slightly lazy eye was squinted up due to the surprisingly bright Welsh sun. He was dressed in his usual shabby chic way, Mads dressed as a female version of him. Gemma, like any child under 10 should be, was wearing a bright orange tutu, ladybird wings and a giraffe mask. I walked with them to Pizza Express, not wanting to think of the time that would elapse before the next time I would wake up with Matt's arm hooked around my body and a smile on his lips like he had been having a nice dream.

(4 months later)

I adjusted the dress under the table, getting aggravated at the length and tendency to get hooked on the buckle of my heels. The pale aqua silk was extremely comfortable and fitted like a glove until I parked my arse in the allocated seat. Steven and Mark sat proudly at the head of the table, partners sitting in corresponding seats adjacent to them. Louise, who played my mother, was sitting with her husband opposite me. Her elegant skirt suit made her look royal and her copper hair was curled down to her waist. Matt sat next to her. 

The twin months that I had been away from him had altered his appearance drastically. His iconic quiff was gone, now his hair was closed cropped and military style. He was a lot more tanned. Also, the muscles that had once been lean and skinny were now defined and trained. It made him, in a way, look like a stranger. There was still a cheeky glint in his eye and his mannerisms were unchanged, but I still felt completely unaware of how to act. His +1 seat was filled by Karen Gillan, who was attending as an old friend. It was fantastic meeting her, she was so kind and funny. She was wearing something a lot more casual than I was, but still managed to look ten times more fabulous in her peter pan collar brown dress accompanied with beige chelsea boots. Her ginger hair, so perfectly styled, was shorter than on screen. She smiled at me from across the table and I grinned back, trying to not act start struck. Which was hard, considering where we were. 

The Cambridge Media Arts Awards were jammed with familiar faces, from awards going to the soaps to Jessica Hynes and Simon Pegg, collecting a commemorative award for Spaced. There were a few musicians as well, such as Justin Youngs from the Vaccines and Jake Bugg. I picked out some indie comedy regulars such as Richard Ayoade and Julian Barratt. It was an overwhelming selection of people gathered under one roof. 

To the table to the right of us was the cast of Broadchurch and Chris Chinball was having a conversation with Moffat. I saw Olivia Coleman and then David Tennant. He was wearing a black suit with a bowtie and as I looked to his feet I noticed he was wearing matching black converse. I was in a form of shock. No fan of Doctor Who can say that they haven't found David Tennant attractive to some degree. Louise caught me staring and gave me a quick boot under the table. My eyes panned to the left and saw Miranda Hart and her gang obviously up for a comedy award. I caught eyes with her accidentally and smiled, she smiled back, waving a little hello. A few minutes later, a tweet came through to my phone: "@mermhart: can't believe we're sat so close to the Who table! I just waved at the Doc's bud @CharlieHowardsUK! Amazing! #CMAA2013 #starstruck". I laughed to myself and replied: "@CharlieHowardsUK: @mermhart I was starstruck to see YOU! Probably caught me at the moment of monging awe! Good luck!! #CMAA2013". I felt a tap on my shoulder and looked to see Karen had poked me and was pointing me to look at Matt. 

"We're in the next lot." He said, leaning forward across the table. Steven Fry, who was presenting, walked on the large stage to large amounts of applause. 

"And now for the best science-fiction show. Here in England, we honour science-fiction and fantasy and hold it close to our hearts. We asked the public to vote between Being Human, Doctor Who and Merlin. The prize this year goes to..." He began to open the card. Everyone on our table clasped hands with one another for luck. "DOCTOR WHO!" 

The iconic theme song began to play. Moffat motioned for Matt and I to follow him on stage. I grabbed Matt's hand out of nerves and followed Moff, focusing on not tripping over my dress or shoes. He held my hand tightly and pulled me close into a hug. I was already struggling to hold back my smiles and he made it impossible. We reached the stage and Matt took the microphone first. 

"Thank you Britain! You beauties! I would like to congratulate first Being Human's cast and crew and those lot at Merlin for being extraordinary competition! It's truly amazing to be associated with people like you! This award means so much especially this year, 2013, 50 years since Doctor Who began!" He waved in thanks and then moved aside for Moffat. 

"50 years, has it really been that long? The truth is, yes. I feel like I've been working here 50 years, and its only been 5! I would like to thank...." and he began reeling off the members of the cast and crew. Matt wrapped his arm around my back. He whispered in my ear. 

"I need to talk to you." I nodded and we walked back off the stage, Steve holding his award, back to the table. We sat down for about 10 minutes when Matt declared he needed the toilet. A few minutes after I followed. He was waiting in the finely furnished hall. 

"Charlie, I'm sorry we haven't been able to meet up." 

"It's fine." I said, only half meaning it. 

"Can I ask you something?" He said. 

He was looked so deeply at my eyes I agreed. "Are we officially a couple?" 

I thought for a second. 

"If you want to be, than of course." 

He looked at the floor, smiling to himself, and for the first time in ages he looked like the old Matt, childish and cheeky. He looked up again. 

"Come here?" He said, though it sounded more like a command. I ran and kissed him. I had missed him. I ran my fingers over his new muscles and his new hair, enjoying the feel, and pressed closer to him. Finally he pulled back, obviously surprised by the intensity of my kiss. 

"So you like the new hair then?"


	12. The TV And The Magazines

It was too early in the morning to think. I grabbed my phone without looking at it and padded downstairs. Turning on the kettle, I stopped and yawned, relishing in the fact that I had absolutely nothing to do today. I poured the boiling water into my one-person tea pot and shuffled into the living room, switching the TV on before sitting on the sofa. The news headlines rolled in front of my eyes. 

"A murder in Sheffield leaves police baffled as to why a 1960's newspaper was left by the victims. Recession to affect the intelligence of children between ages 14-17. Exams take place up and down the country, but are our children ready? And Matt Smith, 30 year old actor well known for being the youngest man ever to portray the iconic Doctor Who, is leaving his part at the end of the year." I slopped tea over my lap out of shock and began dabbing at my legs as a series of clips about what was to come in the news continued rolling. So this was it, it was official. He was leaving me on my own. 

I sat and waited for the actual piece on Matt's departure. Finally, there were clips of Matt's regeneration from David Tennant all the way through to recent episodes with me. 

"Doctor Who, a TV show 50 years strong and celebrating its anniversary this year, will be saying goodbye to its eleventh actor to play the main character, The Doctor. Matt Smith, who stepped into the historic role 3 years ago, is to be leaving the part in the Christmas Special this year. The BBC released a statement: 'we're all very sorry to see Matt go, but don't worry, we won't be letting this put a downer on the festivities of the 50th anniversary, or Christmas! Matt will be going in true Eleven style; with a bang!' And now for Barry with the weather," I flicked off the box and sipped at my tea. Christmas. That was going to be fun. I remembered how broken hearted I had been when Tennant had left, Christmas '09. I was sobbing for the whole of the night, and I hadn't even known him. I remembered my first thoughts on Matt, when he had blasted onto the screen: 'what a prat. He's not nearly as good looking as Tennant. I'm going to hate him.' 

What a turn up for the books that was. I had moaned all the way through his first episode too, much to the annoyance of my flat mate, Sam. 'It's all too new, they've changed EVERYTHING! Why is the Doctor asking a little girl to travel with him, that's so wrong.' But eventually, I got sucked in by the plot, the twists and the talents of Matt and Karen. I think the episode that truly won me over was when the weeping angels and River came back. I enjoy plots that are scattered across many series, so that made me re-watch River's original episodes. Then there was Vincent And The Doctor, the episode that warmed your heart before breaking it into pieces. 

My head thinking of nothing but the show that had taken over my life, it took me a couple of moments to realise my phone was ringing. I looked at the caller ID and smiled. It wasn't over yet. 

"Hello!" I said cheerily. 

"Hello there, pickle!" Matt said, the smile obvious in his voice. The selfish bitter feelings about his departure were finally being defeated and the what had now become daily phone calls had washed the loneliness away bit by bit. 

"Pickle? That's a new one." I said, teasing him for his revamped affection. 

"What can I say? You make me think of vinegar." 

"What?" I said, laughing at the lack of sense that he made when he was in a good mood. 

"I don't know. What you doing?" He said, small talk his natural forte. 

"Watching some fittie on the TV. I would so screw him." I said, trying to make him jealous. 

"Ooh, sounds nice, can I join in? Who is it?" He said, equally breezy. 

"Turn on BBC One." I waited for him to do so and heard him laugh. 

"I had my hopes up for a threeway." 

"Mind your mouth, Mr, do you kiss your mother with those lips?" 

"Hey, speaking of my mother; would you like to come down to Northampton? Come and meet the Smiths?" I got butterflies. Meet the parents? I could do it. Northampton wasn't that from Lincolnshire, where my parents lived. We could do a double visit. 

"Yes, I would absolutely love to! Do you want to meet mine too? We could go after?" 

"Yeah! That would be awesome, stay over at my parents for the night and head up from there on the train." Matt said. I could hear the excitement in his voice. He was back from America for a fortnight and had been coming up with ever-changing list of things to do, places to see and people to visit. I wondered how many days I would be permitted to tag along with him for. 

A week later, summer sun blazing down on the pavement, I walked to Heathrow Arrivals Gate and awaited the return of my sweetheart from across the great ocean. I was wearing my black sunglasses and a large brimmed hat to partially disguise my identity from any stray members of the paps. I was not at as high risk as Matt, but there had been many pictures of me taken of me at the supermarket. I waited amongst the masses, straining my neck for the first glimpse of Matt. It hurt when I had thought of how much I missed him, and it was only now, when he was less that a mile away that it came to a powerful climax. The awards ceremony had been long enough ago that when I saw him, also hidden behind large shades and scarf, his hair had grown to a more reasonable length. I skipped over to him, pushing his heavy laden luggage trolley aside, and kissed him. It was deliciously familiar. His fingers grazed the curvature of my lower back and traced the pockets on the back of my jeans, making me shiver with excitement. He wrapped his arm over my shoulders, and I wrapped mine around his back, each of us grabbed the baggage with one hand and pushed it towards the exit. 

"So what's in the bags?" I asked, smiling up at him as he was at least 6 inches taller than me. 

"Oh, you know, stuff." He said, looking down before looking away, smiling to himself. I looked forward too. 

"So, dirty American porno and sticks of rock and stuff," I jabbed him playfully in the ribs, making him squirm. "That kind of 'stuff'? 

"You forgot all the exotic drugs I acquired." He nudged me playfully out of the way as we entered into the sunlight, searching for my old car. It sat under the large letter 'D' to make it easier to see, but it still took us a good 15 minutes to open up and start loading the boot. 

"You look lovely and tanned, by the way." He said, heaving the suitcase up. 

"A rewarding result of absolutely nothing to do whilst my irritatingly successful boyfriend is away, so spending hours outside sunbathing. It's been great." I said. 

"Oh, should I just bugger off then? Leave you another couple of weeks to chill in the sun?" He said, admiring the sun kissed exposed flesh. 

"Then what I would I do with all this pent up sexual frustration I've had to keep bottled up since seeing your sexy new muscles?" I said, looking him dead in the eye and watching as a naughty glint appeared there. 

"Let's go home for a, um, nap before going to mums?" He said, and I jumped on him, wrapping my legs around his waist. 

"Although, I might have to keep these sunnies on, because I have a rather unfortunate tan line around my nose and eyebrows from sleeping in the sun with them on." I said. He laughed before kissing me deeply and leading me to the car. 

The release of sexual tension meant that Matt and I, freshly showered and carrying a cake, left for his folks at 3 o'clock. He texted ahead and was told not to worry, a barbecue would be waiting as soon as we arrived. Matt led me down the drive and knocked on the door, which was shortly flung open by a blonde woman who grabbed Matt and pulled him into a suffocating hug. 

"Hello mum!" He said, his voice slightly muffled by her tight grasp. 

"Matty! Your hair! And look at your tan, Hollywood's treated you well! All you little fans have been asking about you. They are always tweeting me and messaging me. Me and Laura like to keep them up to date." She said, straightening his jacket before her eyes fell on me. "Finally! I've been looking forward to meeting the famous Charlie Howards! I think you're absolutely amazing with Matt! We all do, I was telling his father about how Matt's been getting awfully fond of you. We knew this would happen. I told David, Matt's dad, that you were just Matt's type." Then she pulled me into a backbreaking hug. 

We ate dinner outside in the garden with Lynne, David, and Laura, Matt's sister. It was weird to be back in a family environment after living alone for a while. Another thing I was struggling with was how to act as a couple with Matt. He had his arm around the back of my chair, so I rested my hand on his knee. During dinner, I stole a chip from his plate, so he wiped hummus on my chin. He took a swig of my Stella so I sat on his chair. Only he ended up sitting on me. We spent a good hour like that, my knee going numb, talking to Matt's family and retelling anecdotes from the set. 

"... So me and Charls are going for it, I've completely forgotten about the cameras..." 

"...and the director tells us to start stripping and I'm panicking, wondering if I forgot to shave my legs this morning..." 

"... And I don't know how far I'm meant to go and what Charls is okay with..." 

"... I was okay with all of it and was waiting for him to have a go..." 

"... Then, as our costumes hit the floor..." Matt trailed off, waggling his eyebrows. I began giggling at the look on his fathers face; curious confusion; and the look on his mothers; persistence and interest. 

"Well, what happened?" Laura said. 

"The director said 'cut'." Matt said. Everyone sighed out of disappointment. 

"You people disgust me." He laughed. 

For dessert, we had New York Cheese Cake and coffee. Matt disappeared and I began to talk to Laura. 

"My boyf is in Majorca at the moment, otherwise he would have been here. It's a shame, because he's missing my show as well." 

"Oh yeah, Matt said you're a dancer." He had definitely mentioned it once. 

"In the Girly Show. I love it. Do you dance, Charlie?" No. 

"Yeah, I sometimes go and stuff. I went every week when I was younger." 

"We should go sometime!" She said, her face glowing with excitement. She pushed her dark hair out of her face and I saw her light eyes dart towards the door. 

"Who wants presents?" Matt said, carrying a brown paper bag full of items that made it bulge. Laura giggled and bounced up and down slightly. 

"I do, I do, I do!" She said. 

"Did I hear presents?" Lynne said, popping her head around the door followed by her husband. 

"I think you did mother." Matt said, he reached in the bag and produced a wrapped object, handing it to his mother. She tore away the paper and smiled at what she saw. 

"Very funny." She said sarcastically. It was a snow globe of the 'LAX' sign with the ability to add your own photo to the background. The one Matt had chosen was of an arse in the air as a woman bent to pick something up, very unflattering. I guessed it was his mum's. It warranted him a slap and a giggle before Matt handed over his gifts to his dad and sister. 

Laura got a signed photo of some celebrity I had never heard of, but who she loved. 

"Matt! Have I ever told you how much I love you?" 

"No." He said but he slapped her gently and let her kiss him on the cheek. 

His dad opened up his present to see 'An Anglophobe's Guide to the British Isles'. David chuckled and cracked open the cover. Laughing at the first joke in there, he spoke in his thick northern accent. 

"Thank you Matthew, but what about your here lady friend?" I gave Matt the puppy eyes and he smiled down at me. He put his hand in the bag and produced a box. He tossed it to me and I caught it. I tore off the paper and shook the box. Something rattled. I pulled a face of excitement and opened the lid. Inside was a charm bracelet, with two charms on already. A TARDIS and a clock. Matt offered no explanation as I put it on, but looked at me. I could think of a few connections with the charms and me and Matt, the obvious one being Doctor Who. 

We continued eating and drinking until well past midnight when Lynne retired to her bedroom, soon followed by David. Laura said she was staying up to call her boyfriend, so Matt and I went upstairs to the spare room. I put on my night shirt and got under the covers. It was weird to think this was the first time Matt and I would share a bed as a couple. There would definitely be no funny business, mainly because his parents were in the next room. We snuggled up together and fell asleep. 

"Wakey wakey sleepy heads!!" Laura said, her head hovering over mine the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes. 

"Hey Laura." Matt said over my grumble of 'piss off'. He laughed and stroked my hair, kissing the top of my head. "Your folks today." I groaned into his bare chest, making him laugh more. 

We were waved off at the train station by the Smiths, with the promise to visit again very soon, preferably without Matt. 

"Charming." He said as we boarded the train. A little boy ran up to us and tugged on my jacket. I looked down at him, close to telling him to jog on, but I caught my tongue and smiled. 

"Hello, can I help you?" I said, looking at Matt who was also grinning at the boy. 

"I'm Thomas and I know who you are!" he pointed at Matt. "You're the Doctor!" 

Matt looked around as if checking for onlookers before kneeling and whispering 

"How did you know?" The boy gasped, his mouth forming a perfect 'O'. "Do you know who this is?" Matt said pointing at me. I knelt down too. 

"That's Alex Whitehall! Are you looking for aliens?" Thomas asked. I thought of my parents. 

"Yep, definitely. Have you seen any?" I said, looking around. Thomas shook his head. "Well, if you do, give us a shout and we'll come running!" 

Thomas nodded. I picked out my polariod camera I had bought to give back to my parents, idea fresh in my mind. There was a bit of film left. 

"Thomas, just in case you see an alien, do you want a picture with The Doctor and I to show them you're protected?" Thomas agreed and Matt and I crouched in with him and smiled. The picture was ejected, the image of Thomas's beaming face becoming clearer as I shook it. I handed it over and Thomas ran over to his mother, who looked around shocked, but we had already taken our seats. 

"Does that happen often to you?" Matt asked. 

"Not at the moment, that's probably only the fifth time." I said, pulling out my phone. 

"It'll get wild soon." He said, getting settled in his chair. 

"Do you reckon the train'll have built in wi-fi?" I asked. Matt shrugged, so I tried logging in. There was no objection. 

"Try your wiki page again. I updated a few things." Matt said. He leaned over as I typed my name into Google. I clicked the link to wikipedia and scrolled down. 

'Charlie's performance in Doctor Who has been seen as 'daring and true to life', her co-star Matt Smith has said 'Charlie is a pleasure to work with, truly talented and one of life's true gems.'' I looked up at Matt who smiled stupidly. I kissed him and went back to my phone. I re-read what had been written under personal life. 

'Howards is an avid musician, and has reported that her favourite bands are Biffy Clyro and The Beatles. 

She has been romantically linked with Dougie Poynter of McFly, after Poynter posted a link to her performance on Doctor Who on Twitter with the comment 'look at my girl'. There were also rumours of a brief relationship with previous Doctor Who companion, Arthur Darvill after some shots of Darvill were taken with a girl who looked like Howards. 

Charlie lives in Manchester with her cat, Barnacle. 

Since mid-March 2013, Charlie has been courting Matthew Smith. They were reportedly intimate throughout the filming of the Doctor Who. Her mother has been asked about the relationship and is claimed to have said ; "Charlie has been a large fan of the Doctor Who since she was younger, to be in a relationship with a star is a true treat."' 

"I didn't write that..." Matt said. I knew he didn't. The writing style, language and personal quote pointed at one individual: My Mother. Seething, mainly at 'the Doctor Who', I couldn't wait to get off the train in Lincoln and have a stern word with my mummy dearest.


	13. Changing Chapters

"And Matt Smith as... The Doctor!" Steven reeled it off with pride. I smiled at Matt sitting next to me, his eyes stone cold and ominous. Today was going to be hard. 

There were cameras around the room following his read-though. The last episode, The Final Hour, sat in front of us, the personification of the tears and heart break that were just moments away. I was bricking myself, knowing that if Matt choked over his words, I would be tearing up in seconds. 

There was a figure at the end of the table. I smiled at him. He grinned back. Peter Capaldi was the last person I had expected to play The Doctor, I don't know why, just he never crossed my mind. When they were casting, I had to do screen tests with several of the considerations. One that had really stood out was that of Eliza Beaker, relatively unknown actor who was amazing as a female doctor. I was in awe. We bounced off each other, her portrayal was so vibrant and simulating, I had a chick crush going there. No one likes the idea of a girl Doctor, but they would be in love with this girl within seconds, she had all the spirit of a suffragette. There was an audition with Charlie Cox from Stardust, which was awesome too. We had a completely different atmosphere. He was sombre, sarcastic and rude and my character reacted so well with him, but Moffat said that wasn't a good move to play with after Matt's Doctor. Capaldi had stood out from both of the other two, with his strong scottish accent and back ground in adult TV, he had seemed like an unlikely choice, even though he had been a favourite with the bookies. I had been in LA with Matt on the night of the big reveal, but Matt told me who it was. 

"What do you think?" I had asked him. 

"That I should've stayed another series." He said, wallowing in self pity. 

"You'll be typecast and no one wants that, you've got a big audition soon, so you've got to let go." 

"Speaking of this audition," Matt said, perking up slightly. "There might be something in it for you. Neil Gaiman is writing the script, and also happens to be a large Doctor Who fan, and thinks you be perfect for the antagonist." 

I had to think for a minute about what Matt was saying. 

"So I get to be in the film with you?" 

That little bit of star light from that conversation had been swallowed whole by the black hole of good bye. 

I grabbed Matt's hand under the desk and refused to let go until the script had finished, Moffat reading the description of the regeneration in a voice worthy of Severus Snape. 

"Golden light rolls and engulfs the mournful face of Eleven. Alex watches horrified as his face begins to change. Eventually, the familiar face of Eleven has been replaced by someone new. And the clock strikes Twelve." 

Everyone clapped as Peter Capaldi began his first lines, it sent shivers down my spine as I caught on to why he had been cast. He was awesome. Matt clapped along also, choking back tears. Before he began to cry, he stood up and said, 

"Where are those free sandwiches!" 

We laughed and went out into the other conference room, where there was a buffet laid out ready.


	14. The Sandwich Debate

If there was one thing that I loved about filming, it was the large duffel coats we got to wear between takes. As we were approaching into Autumn, the coats were a necessary item over the costumes. The wind was dragging a vicious chill through the sky which ripped at the golden leaves on the malting trees. My hair was shorter than it had been in the previous series, cropped around my face and into a full fringe that refused to stay, choosing instead to ride the breeze every five seconds. The field that had been chosen to use as the set for today was just out from Cardiff. There were many supporting actors as we were meant to be set in a market. Period clothing was required on the extras and the TARDIS was sat behind a large Georgian tent. I was in period dress as well, a hat perched gently on my hair. The dress was explosive from my waist and I kept on swishing the petticoats around.

"You know what, I think I'm going to miss the sandwiches most?" Matt said, moping at the ham and tomato in his hand, which he handed to me. I took it and chomped a mouthful down. They were delicious. "I see you're enjoying the costume?" 

I curtsied at him, bowing my hat. He bowed to me and took my hand to help me up before I toppled off the heeled shoes. I looked him in the face. He looked older now. His stubbly face and military crop had made him mature. He wasn't the bumbling baby giraffe that had first greeted me. I kissed him, pressing my fingers gently against the arch of his cheekbones, tenderly pulling him to my height as I balanced on my toes. No matter how much superficial and stupid stuff I thought, or how much I said otherwise in the many interviews that were to come, it was this I enjoyed and would grieve the most. More than the locations, costumes, scripts, sets and sandwiches, it was the people, or person, I was working with. The thoughts chased each other, looping and interlocking; I had weeks left. Less than that. His lips brushed and squished into mine, I refused to yield and kissed him furiously back. 

"This is a place of work, Miss Howards and Mr Smith." Steven was walking towards us, brandishing a camera. "How about the two of you introduce Confidential. The first and last time I guess." 

"Thanks, Steven, as if its not going to be emotional enough." Matt said, only half joking. I patted his shoulder and took the camera from Steven. 

"How much of your evils plans are we permitted to reveal?" I asked, figuring out the way the camera worked and recording Steven as he answered.

"Enough to make them want to know more and drown in their own screams." Then he began cackling, walking away rubbing his hands like something out of a crappy horror movie. 

"Day one on the set of Doctor Who, Christmas Special, The Final Hour." I said, putting on a Geordie accent and mimicking the Big Brother presenter. "Lead man and alien, Matt Smith is contemplating his favourite flavour of sandwich." Matt examined his sandwich. 

"Definitely Marmite. I just feel it's had a rough go of it, don't you?"

"Of course." Matt smirked, looking extremely hot. I found myself sighing and regretting it as he began laughing. He leaned over the camera's shot and stole it from me. Now I was in frame, in all my Georgian glory. I curtsied at the camera and blew a kiss to Matt. 

"Charlie Howards is flirting shamelessly with her poor co-star who is incapable to resist her charms" Matt said, adopting the same Geordie accent.

"Want a bit of this?" I said, wiggling my hips.

"Yes."

"Well, you'll have to ring my father, dear sir, and ask for my hand." I said, feigning sweet innocence. 

Matt turned the camera to face him and shrugged before focusing on me again.

"Guess I better get letter writing then." I tried to keep a straight face but off the cameras line of vision Matt had noticed a mole coming to surface not far from him and was looking over shocked. I burst out laughing uncontrollably. Matt focused the camera on the mole as it struggled above the soil. I popped up for mere seconds, though, before disappearing underground once more.

"It's going to weird isn't it?" Matt said, suddenly grim.

"What?" I asked, genuinly confused.

"When I'm gone." He said.

"Like that mole?" I asked, before I could stop myself. He looked at be, bewilderment on his face before it softened and nodded.

"Yeah, like the mole." He looked sadly at the little dent in the ground where the mole had been. I sighed and went and put the camera on the floor and giving him a hug. He rested his head on my shoulder and I rubbed his arm. 

"Don't worry, honey, you're not the mole."

"I am."

"You're the drunk giraffe."

"Yeah, I suppose I am." He turned and looked into my eyes softly. Then he jumped up and thrust the camera back into my hands. 

"One last hurrah for the drunk giraffe!" And then he did the dance now iconic to the Eleventh Doctor. I laughed as he hoisted his arms above his head and wiggled away. Leaving the camera so it was tilted to still see us, I rose and joined him. We danced in circles, singing the Doctor Who Theme song as we went. Eventually, I tripped and landed on the grass. Matt stumbled and fell over my legs, giggling through his breath as he rolled next to me. He leant in and kissed me, drawing a smile to my lips. He rested his forehead against mine and sighed.

"Maybe I shouldn't leave?"

"Don't poke fun." 

"I mean it. "

"No you don't." I hissed his hand and collected the camera once more. "Confidential, do not be fooled by this pitiful scene. Matt has chosen to move on." 

"Lies! I was tricked against my better judgement." Came from behind me and I smirked. 

"Today was the first day of filming, and we are going to be filming the meeting of the enemy, who we all know is new to the show. Played by Eliza Beaker. Who we love."

"We do love her."

"Eliza, who actually auditioned to replace Matt, is playing the Doctor Who equivelant of the Great and Powerful Oz. Day one of Confidential, signing out!" I smiled down the camera lens before shutting it down and joining Matt on the grass. The occasional dying leaf, brown and crackled, dusted over the lawn and tickled at his boots. There was an air of winding down. So many people worked on the set, it was hard keeping track of everyone, but Matt did. He could recall near enough everyone's name, waving and smiling at them as they walked past. I had noticed that, compared to other sets, there was a lot of leway and space given when you worked on Doctor Who. It was something that made the show a pleasure to work on. I couldn't imagine what it was going to feel like when I had to make the descision to leave. I had been in contact with Karen and Freema, and they said that you just knew. Freema knew that her storyline was only going to make sense over one series, but she reassured me that on a show like this, there were always ways for you to wriggle your way back in. It was true, Martha Jones had been a regular guest star in the second series of Torchwood and also appeared in several episodes of Doctor Who since she had made the best move and 'got out'. Karen had said that her character would struggle making it back into the show, what with Rory and Amy being trapped in another time line that the Doctor could not enter without causing serious damage to the whole of time and space. Karen said that there had been a point where she realised that it was time to move on, no matter how hard it would be, and that she wanted it to be final. I looked over at Matt.

"Well, that was the first time we did that officially as a couple." I said. I snuggled into Matts shoulder and sighing. "We do go to some lovely locations on the set of Doctor Who, don't we?"

"Dyffryn Gardens was one of my favourites." Matt confirmed, stretching out and adjusting how the purple jacket that was now part of his regular costume fell on his lap. "We filmed the episode with the zombie creatures there." He reminded me. 

I remembered. It was a favourite location for Doctor Who as it was beautiful and in reaching distance of Cardiff. One of the most recognisable scenes from Doctor Who that was shot there was the scene in The Girl In The Fireplace where Renette is walking in the gardens with her friend discussing the King Of Frace and Tennant pops up from behind the wall. There were so many locations that were so much a part of Doctor Who history that I wondered how long it would be until I was back filming here again with Twelve.

"Capaldi's going to be great." I said, the certainty in my voice coming through strongly. 

"Better than me?" Matt asked, grabbing my palm and tracing lines on it. 

"Different from you." And I poked him in his bow tie before we stood and went to work on the Final Hour.


	15. Journey Through Time And Space

Whilst walking through the kitchen, I picked up the bowl of Sensations from the side and made my way into the living room. I flicked on the TV and stared out of the darkened, snowy winter. It was clear that winter was hanging in the air with the christmas lights dangling from the tree. Half 7 was fast approaching and I bit into another crisp.

"And now on BBC One, the Final Hour has chimed at last..." The woman on the advert dropped her voice and we were zooming in on Earth like we had done in a thousand Doctor Who episodes before.

I thought back to the last day on set for this very episode.

_"Charlie, Matt, could you walk out of the doors in three... two... one... ACTION!" Aidrian called and we stepped out._

_"So Doctor, you said we were making our first Christmas together special, correct?" I said, trying not to think to hard into the words as I said them, attempting to sound flippent and excited. Matt lolloped out behind me, his bow legs emphasised as he squatted and stretched._

_"In the TARDIS every day is Christmas, or can be, or will be. Christmas every day, would you like that Alex?" He said, leaning on my shoulder, adjusting his bow tie. I looked into his eyes as he smirked happily at me._

_"Why ever shouldn't we. Where shall we begin?" I asked, and I realised there was a slight choke in my voice._

_"How about the Georgian era?" Matt said, dusting over the doors of the TARDIS. "We've got the whole of time and space if you don't want there."_

_Suddenly, it became too much. I always was awful at letting things go. Here we were, call us professionals. My eyes were watering and Matt looked sorrowful._

_"I'm sorry." I gasped and sniffed. I laughed at my own patheticness._

_"CUT!" Aidrian called. I wiped the tears away._

_"Who chose this scene to be on the last day?" I demanded, half laughing._

_"My guess is Moffat." Matt said. His eyes were bordering on sparkling._

Oh Matt, it was his decision to leave. He had been in LA, where he was now living, for the past three months. It had been hard, sure, but at least on the times we met up there was a lot of reuniting sex. And there is nothing better than that. I got up half way through the introduction, realising that I hadn't set the kettle to boil. The kitchen had been re-furnished with goodies after my paycheck from Doctor Who. It now included a bread maker and a pastry board.

There had been other perks recently thanks to my acting on an international sci-fi. I had been invited on several pannel shows, including Never Mind The Buzzcocks, which had been a personal favourite. Meeting Noel Fielding and Phil Jupitus had been amazing. I had been invited to go on Big Fat Quiz of 2013, which was filming soon. There was the red carpet events that had been extraordinary. I had actually met Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Hiddleston. It would've been so much more fun if I had Matt to go with me.

_"The final scene of Doctor Who, The Final Hour, take TWO! ACTION!"_

_"So Doctor, you said we were making our first Christmas together special, correct?"_

_"In the TARDIS every day is Christmas, or can be, or will be. Christmas every day, would you like that Alex?" He said, leaning on my shoulder, adjusting his bow tie. Again I looked into his eyes._

_"Why ever shouldn't we. Where shall we begin?"_

_"How about the Georgian era?" Matt said, dusting over the doors of the TARDIS. "We've got the whole of time and space if you don't want there."_

_"The Georgian era sounds great." I said. "Doctor, you know the Timelords?"_

_Matt stopped and waited at the door of the TARDIS, the seriousness in his posture suddenly ruined by him losing his footing on the edge of the door and him stumbling backwards._

_"Shit!" He said. I burst out laughing. Make up came over and looked to see if there was any damage to his trousers or if his wig was askew. He looked at me as they sorted him out, his eyes rolling at his own stupidity. I giggled and waited for him to be sorted out._

 

The christmas special was well into the title sequence now. The Torchwood episodes, filmed all the way back in June, had aired yesterday and the day before. The response had been phenomenal. I had recieved many Twitter messages from fans

"@CasAssBut: I'm sorry but the Doctor so wanted to screw @CharlieHowardsUK right there. Not sure if it was all acting ;)"

"@AngelsWithBox: @CharlieHowardsUK This ship sails itself. Please marry Matt."

"@Kazzababies: Sexy times with the Doctor and Alex! So glad it was @CharlieHowardsUK otherwise that would've been awks."

"@TeamBarrowman: Get a load of @CharlieHowardsUK!"

"@KarenGillan2: @CharlieHowardsUK Can I just be best friends with you? I'll sell you @RattyBurvil in exchange?"

 

Of course, I had sent a message of consent to Karen, asking how much the delivery would cost. Life had never been as brilliant, yet as strange. Matt's mum had rang me up to congradulate me on my performance and to arrange a New Years meeting between herself and David and my parents and family. It was all getting rather serious.

Matt stood in the TARDIS doors once more.

"What about the Timelords?" He asked, his voice steady.

"How come none got away by staying on other planets?" I asked, noting the foreshadowing.

"Because we were all called home. And there, they were locked." He said, his voice grim.

"I bet you're a different man to the one that fought." I said, softly.

"Oh completely. It's like I've lived a dozen lives since then." He turned and smiled. "No time to dilly dally! We've got people to meet! Places to see! Christmases to crash!" He grabbed my arm and steered me into the TARDIS.

It had mirror the my first day almost completely. Stange how things panned out. The scene played infront of my eyes, different to how I recalled it.

_He held me close, in that small wooden replica TARDIS, his head buried into my shoulder._

_"Come on, brave face!" I said. He stood straight and nodded. The wind blower outside stopped and we stepped out, Matt greeted to massive amounts of applause. Confetti drifted fdown from the rafters and there were party popper being pulled from several directions. Matt caught some confetti before pulling me in by the waist and holding me close. Steven stood forward._

_"Matt. It's been 4 years since we booted that Tennant bloke off and gave you his massive shoes to fill. Well, you've filled them, and much more than that, you've made them your own. And as a special thank you from the cast and crew, we have some gifts for you."_

_Mark walked forwards holding several boxes that Matt took, eyes brimmed with tears._

_"Thank you," He said weakly, "Thank you."_

_"Well, open them then!" I said. He chuckled softly and began ripping off the paper from one of the boxes. Inside was a small, red bow tie. I gasped, feeling myself whell with emotion. The other boxes contained his fez, a bottle of champagne and finally his sonic screwdriver. Matt was crying by the end, real tears of joy and loss._

_"I love you all so much. I really do." He managed. I rubbed his back and smiled._

_"Yeah, well you better keep in touch, or I'll kill you myself!" Said a voice somewhere in the crowd. Everyone laughed and Matt was passed around, hugging everyone in turn._

"That cuppa ready yet?" I shouted.

"It's in the pot now!" Matt replied, waltzing into the living room and plonking himself down on the sofa. "Oh, not this again." He said, motioning to the TV.

"I know, the acting is apauling." I teased. He wrapped his arm around me and pulled me close.

"What's in the DVD player?" He asked, after kissing the top of my head.

"I think it's Spaced." I said.

"Oh that sounds good, lets watch that." He said, flicking off his final episode and turning on the player.

"Best not stay up too late," I reminded him. "We've got the read through of Neil's script on Monday and have to catch the plane tomorrow."

Matt sighed and brushed the hair out of his eyes, it had nearly fully grown back now.

"One episode?" He asked, pleading. I laughed and snuggled into him.

"Sure, as long as I get the window seat on the plane." I said. He hugged me closer.

"Of course."

Working together in the future? Of course. Marriage? Maybe. Children? If Lynne had any say in the matter. I looked down at my charm bracelet. The TARDIS had brought me luck. The clock brought me a future. Both gave me Matt and a journey through time and space.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 21/10/13  
> Although officially, A Journey Through Time And Space was supposed to be the final chapter in this story, I was wondering if there was the interest to carry it on? Obviously, Matt won't be working on Doctor Who any more after the last chapter, but there could be some stuff regarding the film that they would be working on together? Or if there any key life events that people would like to see, I could do a trilogy of extra chapters? 
> 
> Could you please comment or vote to show that people are reading this? 
> 
> Thanks guys, this has been a really fun story to write, and I hope it's been fun for you too
> 
> Holly xox
> 
> UPDATE 15/12/13
> 
> Hello again! 
> 
> As you may have already noticed, there is a new EXTRA chapter after Journey Through Time And Space called Living La Vida Loca! I'm planning on another 2 extra chapters revolving around the film that Charlie and Matt are working on with Benedict and Evelyn. 
> 
> If you take to Evelyn and Ben together, please read In Another Life which is their story! (And also if you like Oasis!)
> 
> If, after the film chapters, you want MORE, I might post an epilogue? 
> 
> Tell me what you think, and vote/comment so I know people are reading!
> 
> Also, if you want any little things from their lives (e.g. meeting Charlie's parents, Matt meeting Charlie's brother and sister, living together, premiers, holidays, anything...) comment and let me know and I'll get on it!
> 
> Sorry for not updating very often, it's a nasty habit! 
> 
> Holly x
> 
> 1/1/14
> 
> WOULD ANY BODY WANT THE EXTRA EXTRAS ABOUT THEIR LIVES TO BE WRITTEN IN MATT'S POINT OF VIEW, LET ME KNOW CAUSE THERE IS ONE IN CHARLIE'S AND ONE IN MATT'S IN THE WORKS 
> 
> THANK YOU


	16. Living La Vida Loca

One Month Later

"Now then, now then, now then! What have we 'ere?" Matt said, waltzing up and down the sound stage with the coppers hat balanced ridiculously on his mop top. I was in hysterics.  
"You sound... Like... Like... Your dad!" I said, between gasps of laughter. His already bowed legs flexed outwards and his eyes crossed.  
"Now then missus, it'd be advisory that you take this 'ere disruption out of doors." He said, motioning towards me. My laughter soon became tiny squeaks of mirth and I felt as though there was a six pack building. I couldn't say exactly what was making it so amusing. Maybe it was the fact that his jeans were tucked into his socks. Maybe it was the way his ears stuck out under the hats brim. Maybe it was a combination of the two mixed with the utterly bemused looks he was getting from the occasional passer-by.

"You.. are.. not... not.. helping.. oh my god... helping me.. make a good impression!" I said, my ribs aching from the amount of laughter. He waddled over and draped his arm over my shoulder, plonking his arse on the floor. I felt the police hat on my hair and looked at him. "Are you going to help me with the lines now you've got that out of your system?" 

"Of course. So, shall we go over the plot? I'm Jensen Colt. I get recruited into the Orgainisation, formed by my father Jack Colt. Jensen's part of the elite, who use their imagination as a weapon, and are called The Sparrows. Jensen works with Anthony,"

"Played by Benedict Cumberbatch!" I practically screamed. "I cannot believe it!"

"And Jessica, played by Evelyn Night." Matt said, smirking at me. 

"I love her too! Her music is so good, she's really good mates with..." 

"I know, you have been going on about them every day for the past month!" Matt said, mocking me. "Evelyn and Benedict are childhood sweethearts or something." 

"I know, it's super cute. The reason they could get Benedict on this film was down to her and her friend Arthur Watson." I said, attempting to not go off on a rant about the Nights. I had grew up with their music, it was as important to me as Oasis and all the others from that time. 

"I met Benedict when I was first getting into the job," Matt said, holding my hand and tracing swirls on my palm.

"Well, some people have all the luck, don't they! Any way, the plot. So Jensen is working with Anthony and Jessica, who tell him that his grandfather, Jackson Colt, was robbed of his research by Andromeda, who used the results to work on humans. "

"Jensen is focusing too hard on her and the history of his family when training with the Sparrows and his imagination makes her stronger, enough to return. And she wants to use him to get his fathers inheritance and further research into the limits of Jackson Colt's research." Matt finished off. We shared a look, there was several things in his eyes that made me melt inside. Nothing that was particularly meaningful, just emotions that made me feel like I totally belonged to him and him to me.

"I think she's just using him for his body." I whispered, looking down at Matt's. He looked shocked and covered up.

"Don't you objectify me, woman!" He said. I giggled, before leaning in and kissing him. His hands slid up the back of my shirt, pressing gently on my skin. My fingers teased through his hair, and he shifted until I was straddling his lap. I kissed him ferociously, before pulling back and sucking in air. 

"And you don't want me to objectify you?" I said. He chuckled and began reading the script over my shoulder. He was going from the first scene between Andromeda and Jensen by the sounds of it.

"I brought you back. I made you." He said. 

"You really thought that I was relying solely on you? You are greatly mistaken." I said, after taking the script from him and laying on the ground so we both could see it. "Aren't you a sweet looking lad. You're a lot like your grandfather. Though, some of his good looks have been polluted."

"I didn't expect you to be this..." Matt said. His voice was shaking and I smiled with pride. Then I shook back into character.

"Well, I didn't expect any more from you. Spineless, like that infernal grandmother of yours." I spat at him. His eye brows shot up. I began to get into the part, circling him like a vulture on her prey. He turned to maintain eye contact. "So how did my dear Jackson spend his money then? On enough alcohol to kill him I hope."

"Oh, he had enough to kickstart a strong scientific research centre. Some of which, the results have come from your tests." Matt said, he stepped forwards, close to my face. "You're real."

"Of couse. I was always the more talented of the two. It was I that discovered the potential with imagination advancers, not dear Jackson, who felt that some imaginations were too.. dark to control. Like yours. You brought me back. There must be some very..." I studied his lips. "Black thoughts there."

He was the first to break character, stooping and smooching. I stretched on my toes to reach his height.

"You're so good at this it makes me want to hate you." I said. Running my fingers through his hair, I sighed. 

Across the soundstage came the opening of a door, and in walked the one and only Benedict Cumberbatch. He was followed by a petit woman with an auburn bob, cut close to her face with longer curls twisting by her cheekbones. She had blue eyes that looked back to Benedict every three seconds, as if she couldn't believe he were there. She looked across the room and saw us. Benedict had also spotted us and waved. Matt grinned and went over to shake his hand. I followed, hoping that I wasn't gawping too much at the beautiful couple. 

"Matt! How are you?" Benedict asked, grinning. The woman was staring at Matt in the same way I was at Benedict. We noticed one another and laughed. She held out her hand, and I shook it. 

"Hey up, I'm Evelyn. Eve. Evie. Whatever you like." She said. She had a weird accent, somewhere between Benedicts southern and my northern. "I can't believe I'm meeting Matt Smith and Alex Whitehall. My kids love you. Like, my son is in love with you." 

"Oh my God. You're Evelyn Night." I said, failing at keeping it cool. She grinned massively. "You're like the Queen Of Britpop!" 

She laughed. 

"Oh gosh, I'm so sorry for acting like a complete moron. But Noel Gallagher. AND Benedict Cumberbatch. How on Earth did you manage it?" I said. She winked at me and leaned close. 

"By knowing when to be in the right place at the right time..." She said. I looked at her confused and she just grinned. I was really taking to this woman. 

"This is my colleague and girlfriend, Charlie Howards." Matt said to Benedict. I turned to face Benedict, trying not to freeze. 

"I love you in Star Trek. And Sherlock. And everything." I heard Matt giggle. Benedict took it well though. 

"I love you in Ashes To Ashes. And Doctor Who. And most definitely this film in which we will both star." He said. "My son James loves you. It's bordering on creepy."

"That's what she's like with you too." Matt said. I shot him a look. He laughed and Evelyn joined in. Benedict had longer hair that I had seen on him in the past couple of years, it was curling and framing his cheekbones. He was dressed in completely normal clothes, but still managed to look striking. He smiled at me. 

"I'm honestly not as bad as he is and will make out." I said. I turned to Evelyn. "I swear, if we ever meet Jenna Coleman, I am going to tell her how he has a million images of her saved to his desktop."

Matt's voice came from behind me. "You wouldn't!"

"I would. And I will, I'm in a Death Comes To Pemberly, remember?" I said. His jaw dropped.

"You leave me with no choice." He turned to Benedict again. "She was seriously considering purchasing a life size cutout of you for her office."

I gasped, and quickly shoved my hand over his mouth in an attempt to stop any other comments that might escape. Benedict burst out laughing. 

"Ben was like that when he met Harrison Ford, weren't you honey?" Eve asked, and there was something in her eye that glinted menacingly. 

"Before my beautiful partner says anything else that will embarrass me, we do have some news to bear. Neil Gaiman and Arthur Watson would like us all to meet in the cafe to have a nice chat over what I hear is amazing food." Benedict coolly cut Evelyn off before she could whip out what was surely an arsenal of anecdotes. 

Matt and I agreed and followed the couple to the cafeteria. The studio floor plan was a maze of make up rooms, prop design, sound stages, editorial stations and all the other magic that went in during and post production. There was also a cluster of dressing rooms and practise halls, in one of which we had been chilling. After a few twist and turns of nervous anticipation we reached the large cafe and went to meet our new leaders. The Sparrow's Imagination cast was ready for it's first pep talk!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick Thing: Benedict unfortunately isn't a husband or father in real life, this was purely added for crossover purposes. Maybe in the parallel universe that Charlie is the Eleventh Doctor's companion, Benedict Cumberbatch has a family? I like to think so! Anyway, Evelyn is from my other story In Another Life, so if you liked her, check her out there.


	17. You, Me And The Family

The meeting was short and to the point. All of the main cast and crew were gathered in the cafe, discussing aspects of production and directing that we all needed to know about.

Neil Gaiman was head writer on the film project, but there had been additional bits added by Tim Burton and other such writers. It was having a mix of comedy thrown in as it was being directed by Edgar Wright, who I had met before. He smiled at Matt and I across the table as a few more people filed in. Benedict and Evelyn were talking to each other and both kept on laughing or chuckling at each others words. I tuned in to what they were saying,

"So, Noel's not seen her since she started going through the 'phase' and in he walks like 'Yo Rolo are you wanting to hear about all the cool stuff uncle Noel's been up to?' Like the arrogant sod he is, she just 'Can't man, I have a major situation going down, one of my BOC LPs has totally bit the dust.'" Evelyn did an impersonation of her daughter and Benedict started laughing. "Noel was so confused and said 'BOC as in...' 'Blue Oyster Cult, yeah.' It was brilliant. She was listening to McFly last time he visited, guessing he's pleased with the change."

I smiled, unable to fully imagine Noel Gallagher in that sort of environment.

"Oh God, she's only 13, what did Lizzie say?" Benedict continued.

"Absolutely proud of her of course. She's been pulling out all her old LPs for her to listen to. Her favourite is Rock n Roll Ain't Noise pollution, but Rosie isn't liking it." Evelyn said. Lizzie was the bassist in Evelyn and the Nights and also the wife of Arthur Watson, producer of Sparrows Imagination.

"Hello, can I have your attention?' Arthur started. "Thank you. Now, today is the first day on set of our new science fiction adventure, Sparrow's Imagination. None of you, apart from the designers, have seen the set, and I'm not lying when I say that you will be amazed. The scenes we will be working on today are Jensen's flashbacks, who is being taught to use his imagination powers to access the controls to the Colt's workshop. And he beings to remember Andromeda. So we're going to need Matt Smith, Charlie Howards, Eve Night and Ben Cumberbatch in costume asap."

After a discussion featuring mainly professional jargon that was hard to understand if you weren't in the line of work, we went to the make up studio. Inside there was a row of mirrors and chairs, surrounded by brushes and pots of amazing colours and materials. I was sat between Eve and Ben, and behind Matt, as a strong looking Italian man came strolling in.

"Mario!" Said Ben, greeting him with a toothy grin as the man walked over to him. "So it's your teams that will be working on this project.

"Of course, Arty employs only the best, as you know."

A few more make up artists came walking in and I kept going over the script on my knee in preparation for later. The lines weren't complicated, in fact I only had a few, but you had to be sure of the atmosphere and tone of the scene. A woman walked over to me.

"Hiya, I'm Kerry." She said, setting up her make up equipment and pulling my hair out of my face.

"Hey, I'm Charlie." I murmered as she almost smothered me with a towel and wrapped it around my hair to get it away. She then handed me a make up wipe.

"Can you remove your previous make up please? And I'll get started. So are we wanting dark and menacing or vintage and grubby?" She asked. I thought about the character.

"I'm thinking a mix between Helena Bonham-Carter and Twiggy." I said. Neil Gaiman had a very similar style of writing to Tim Burton, in a way that it was always like a grown up fairytale. I wanted something quirky and dark, but still pretty and old.

The actual process of appling the make up started with the skin. Normally, I barely wore foundation, so the layers of primer, paint, foundation, powder and all the rest made me feel slightly itchy. Next to me, Evelyn was getting made up as well.

Her style was more steam punk than mine, containing military items and lots of bronzed eye make up. She smiled at me, revealing a gold tooth that had not been there an hour before. It made her look like a space pirate, what with her messed up crows nest hair and leather jacket.

The trailers thick walls permitted lots of sound in. From outside, I heard a woman's voice and a child's giggle. After came a slightly older child's voice and a young boys scream. The door of the name up trailer slid open and a small gathering of people entered the already cramped space. Dancing around the busy make up artist working on Matt, now half way transformed into a chiseled God, came a tall, dark haired gangly woman. She apologised as she went and from behind me I heard Eve sigh.

"Liz, I asked you not to bring James to the set." She said. The woman, Liz, rolled her eyes and huffed.

"I'm not being funny, Eve, but your son isn't the most manageable of kids at the best of times, let alone when Alex Bloody Whitehall is at the film that mummy and daddy are working on." She shot me an accusing look.

"Sorry?" Not quite understanding why I was being brought into this.

"My son, James, the one I told you about. He's there." Evelyn said, pointing at a boy of about 10 who was stood at the door. I waved at him and he blushed. He looked a lot like his dad, with delicate green eyes and dark red curls. He was wringing his hands and staring at me and Matt. "He doesn't usually get this star shocked. I guess he is meeting the Doctor, though."

"Hello Matt and Charlie." James said. He was well spoken, with an acute lisp on the tip of his tongue that became evident when continued. "I especially hoped I'd meet you. Uncle Arthur said I come come in one day."

"Are you interested in acting?" I asked, wanting to look at him, but at that moment my head was forced back to allow Kerry proper access to my face.

"Yes. Dad said that he's going to let me go to the London Academy of Drama." James said.

"Wow that's cool." Matt joined in.

"What else are you interested in, kiddo?"

"I like archeology and history mainly."

"He's a right little smarty pants." Lizzie said, touselling his copper curls.

"That's cool." I said. I smiled at Matt.

"Are you and Matt going to get married?" James said.

"Oh for Gods sake, you are so like your dad." Eve said.

"I just wanted to know if I still had a chance with Charlie, mum! I'm only 14 years younger than her! Johnny Depp is like 20 years older than his girlfriend!" James protested as he was shepherded out by Lizzie.

"Sorry." She said. "Evie, I'll warn you now, Rolo's on her way. She's just talking to Ben." Lizzie said, and she dodged out of the trailer, not waiting on her best friends reply.

"Is this your first project working with your husband?" Kerry asked her.

"Yeah. Well, no. It's the first one where EVERYONE has been involved. Even Rolo, that's my daughter Rosie, has been recruited as a runner by Arthur. It's mayhem. But we're so glad you could join us, Matt. And you Charlie. Arthur has been waiting to work with Neil for years and was so glad that Neil could get you two."

"It's great," Matt said, as his hair was being washed. "honestly-"

"Mum!" A voice broke through.

"Yes my dear?" Evelyn said, sending an apologetic glance to Matt.

"Arthur said that I'm not allowed to help with the camera." A girl who must've been Evelyn's oldest, Rosie, was standing in the door looking over at all the make up equipment. She was very pretty, with startling blue eyes and a deep dimple in the corner of her mouth. She was more of a mix of Benedict and Evelyn in such a way that it was obvious she was there child but there was no identifiable inherited features. She smiled strongly at me.

"Wow, Charlie Howards!" She said. Walking over to shake my hand, she smiled at Matt as well. "Charlie you are so bloody cool. Can I please have your wardrobe cause everything you wear seems to be amazing?"

"You can, if you want! I'll bring you some stuff, you'll fit into some of the stuff I've grown out of." I said. I knew I'd like this kid. She looked shocked and then turned to her mother who gave her a 'aren't you a lucky girl' kind of look.

"Rolo, would you like to be Charlie's runner?" Evelyn asked. I nodded and so did Rosie. "There you go, you've got a job now. Stop bothering Charlie, she needs to go to costume."

"Do you want me to bring you a coffee there?" Rosie said.

"Tea please sweetie." I said. I turned to Matt as I got up once Kerry had finished with me. "You coming?"

He got up and followed me out, a towel draped over his shoulders to protect his clothes from the tan that had been applied to him.

"It seems nice to have a family on set." He said. There was a hidden meaning there, I was guessing.

"Yeah, and hectic." I replied.

"Isn't everything?" He said, non committal.

"Yeah." I said.


	18. Sparrow's Imagination

Evelyn Night frowned at her reflection in the mirror. I watched as she rubbed at the bit of pen that was stretched down the side of her cheek. The girls toilets were practically empty apart from the two of us, which was probably a good thing as Evelyn was chuntering a choice of swear words.

"This is so pissing typical. Why had Ben been waving that chuffing biro around like a lunatic?" She said, furiously. The reason that Ben had been waving that chuffing biro around was partially my fault, so I stayed quiet. She scrubbed at the blue line some more and it began to fade. "Does that look okay?"

She rotated her head from side to side so I could compare the two. There was a very faint smudge and nothing else. I rummaged in my bag and pulled out the small make up bag I carried.

"You only need a little bit of foundation, here you are." I said, handing it over. She took it gratefully and set about on her face. "Honestly, there's nothing major."

She hummed in agreement, but sounded as though she was mainly focusing on the foundation application.

"I'll leave you to it?" I said, backing towards the door. Again she made a non-committal noise. As I stepped out of the expensive toilets into the equally expensive lobby, I was greeted by Matt and Ben waiting by the door. Ben stuck his head through the door after me and yelled,

"Evie, hurry up, we're going to be late!" A voice shouted back something angry and full of expletives. "Alright, see you in five!

He reappeared and grinned cheekily. I pushed him.

"You've got me in trouble now! All because of you," I said, before pointing to Matt. "And him!"

Matt raised his arms in surrender, making the vibration of his chest more obvious as he chuckled. Benedict was laughing too. I frowned at both of them, before chuckling myself.

"Charlie, you do realise that if you hadn't shouted surprising loud,"

"Like a banshee!"

"Like a banshee at me I would never have jumped out of my skin?" Ben said, with additions from Matt.

"Well maybe if you weren't such a pussy..." I said, pulling a sarcastic face.

"Your mum's a pussy." Ben said, rather unwitty really. I pulled a shocked face, before pouting.

"No, don't do that!" Ben said.

"Not the big green eyes with the school girl curls and the tears!" Matt joined in. They were pretending to stress out when Eve came out of the toilets. Ben looked over at her expectantly. She glared at him ferociously.

"We'll deal with this later." She said, menacingly. But then, suddenly, all aggravated pretences were dropped and she smiled, rubbing her hands together. "Anyone else really excited, because I know I am!"

"I'm shitting myself." Ben said, scratching the back of his head as he spoke. It was amazing to see how the couple mirrored each other, because a second later Eve was messing with the ponytail secured at the base of her skull. I thought whether Matt and I did that, and then noticed that as Matt switched his weight from his left to his right foot, I did the same.

"It can't be that many people, it's exclusive personal only?" I said, showing my innocence at events like this. Matt smiled and wrapped his arm protectively around me as though my naïve thoughts would encourage a pack of wolves to choose me as new pray.

"She has a point though, this is really exclusive." Eve said, backing me up.

"I'm saying about 600 people. No more." Benedict said, as though that was a tiny amount.

"No biggie."Matt said, hoping to reassure me.

"No biggie." I repeated. He rested his palm on my hip and we waited for instruction on when to enter the event hall and the press conference. Three quarters of an hour later, we were ushered in and took our seats next to Neil and Arthur who had been there for an hour already.

Questions were shot at us thick and fast, it was a blur to keep up with them. Benedict was asked about previous work such as Sherlock, future projects, and working with Evelyn. She too was asked about the experience of working with her husband. The questions she received also covered her Britpop band, relationships with Noel Gallagher, and the future of her acting career. Matts questions were all Doctor Who based, occasionally covering his new muscles and future with theatre.

Then there were my questions. I was asked about Peter Capaldi, whose Doctor Who premier was fast approaching. Questions about my relationship with Matt and the chemistry on set. Then questions about the role and how I got into character.

"Well, opposite Matt it was quite easy as the characters are polar opposites with a similar end goal, so whatever he was doing, I reflected back at him." I said. Wording things was my issue in front of the press, but luckily I was managing well today.

The conference continued on for another hour, everyone answering their fair share of questions. Finally, we were released into the bar.

Benedict and Evelyn went to the bar and sat on the stools, waiting for Arthur and Lizzie presumably. Matt lead me to a small table near the edge of the drinks zone, and we spoke for a while.

"I think that maybe we should consider buying an apartment somewhere together, what do you think?" He suggested.

"Where bouts you thinking?" I said, sipping at the Malibu that Benedict had bought me like a gentleman.

"New York?" Matt said.

"Wow. Yeah, that sounds amazing. " I said. New York. That was a place I had always wanted to live.

"Oh and Benedict says that wherever it is, He and Eve have to be permitted to regularly drop by, and hopefully leave the kids with us." Matt said, smirking his playful smirk that I loved.

"Of course, just to watch James squirm!" I said, releasing afterwards how cruel it sounded, but Matt was already laughing. Benedict and Evelyn smiled and waved as they spoke to the Watsons. I was glad to have been involved on the Sparrows Imagination, as it had allowed me to make new friends and firm connections, which was promising in every sense. I didn't know what was waiting around the corner.


	19. It's A Sibling Thing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is from Matt's point of view and is set between TV and The Magazines and Changing Chapters!

Charlie slumped behind me, lost in her thoughts as we walked towards the Lincolnshire Cafe Rouge. I watched her, hoping that I wasn't appearing too excited. I had been staying in her city flat in Manchester for the past two days and was on a high. It was a rare occasion for the two of us to be out and about together and I was going to make the most of it.

The atmosphere in the restaurant was sluggish and quiet as we stepped in and waited to be addressed. Charlie pushed one of her chestnut curls from her eyes as she asked the waiter for a table for seven. As usual, she had adopted that simple style that not many people could master successfully. In a low cut lace grandfather shirt and a tartan skirt, she completely undermined the layers of expensive clothing that many of the women we passed were wearing. I had attempted to match her laid back style by wearing a pair of jeans with braces along with a Smiths band shirt, but next to her I just looked under dressed and unworthy. But she didn't seem to look at me like that. Sure there were girls across the nation who wanted me, but that was because I was a character on a show. If I had chosen another route, they wouldn't have looked twice. Mind you, I wouldn't have been with her, and the thought of that twisted in my gut slightly.

We were shown to a large wooden table at the back of the room, privatised by its surrounding high walled booths and wooden screens. There were eight seats around it and Charlie plonked down at the head of the table. Not wanting to be separated when her family arrived, I took the seat to her right and admired her. It had been her sisters idea for us all to meet. Now I came to think of it, I realised that I wasn't completely certain of her siblings names.

"Jarvis and Sally, that's right isn't it?" I asked, not wanting to get flustered when they arrived. She nodded sweetly and rubbed her stomach.

"Yeah. God, I'm so ready for food I don't want to wait for them." She said, sighed in such a way that I smirked. I leant in and kissed her, mainly because her eyes were the only bright thing in the otherwise dimly lit space.

"Same. I'm in the mood for some Coq Au Vin." I said, suggestively.

"That sentence did not end like I expected it to. " She teased.

"It never does with you." I laughed, looking at the cheeky flush that had painted her cheeks.

"Let's play a game." She said, filling what had become a conversational void as I looked at her waiting for her family.

"What?" Her face had lit up and I sat up in the chair, my attention on her.

"Let's see how many waiters put on French accents." She said finally. Judging by the desperate attempt at French culture in the room, it could get interesting.

"What about genuinely French people?" I asked.

"Okay, 10 points per fake accent, 5 points per real accent." She said. I smiled at her, about to speak when,

" 'ello, we 'ave the menus and can I get you any drinks?" The waitress had swooped in and was flashing an empty grimace.

"10 points," I coughed. "I'll have beef bourguignon." The waitress scribbled it down.

"I'll have the prawns." Charlie said. Once our drinks were delivered and the waitress was gone, Charlie's eyes flickered toward the entrance. I watched her sigh and rub her eyes, at the exact moment a group of people hurried in, lead by a ginger woman who had to be Charlie's sister. They stowed away in the high booth next to us, unseen by Charlie. A few minutes later, the waitress seemed to serve them and a few minutes after that, when Charlie's neck was turning a sharp red colour, they finally showed themselves.

"Do you think she's panicking yet?" A stage whisper came from the booth next to the table.

"No way." Said a male voice, followed by a child's giggle. Finally, Charlie seemed to understand what was happening, as she smirked slightly.

"Come out, come out, where ever you are!" She sang sweetly. Five grinning faces appeared over the booth. She smiled at her family and waved at her niece whilst whispering at me. "you could've told me." I smiled as Jarvis, Maddie, Gemma, Sally and Tony came over and sat down at the table.

"Don't worry, we've already ordered." Said Sally. Her hair was low and knotted, her eyes were rimmed with smoke. There were definite similarities between Charlie and Sally, but in my eyes there was no comparison. Charlie had the look of a mischievous porcelain doll, with the eyes that always gave away whenever she had a dirty thought and cheekbones that flushed furiously when you said anything that her eyes begged for. Only the other hand, Sally seemed to have a level of confidence that I usually avoid in people. She had none of the eyeliner and lip tint that Charlie felt she had to apply in the morning and didn't seem to have tried too hard in her appearance. Tony, her Australian boyfriend, was draping his arm over her shoulders and smiled at her. I saw Sally catch eyes with Charlie and she crossed her pupils before talking some more with Gemma.

Gemma was the spitting image of her mother, with her blonde hair and petit nose, but her dark eyes and rounded chin were features she had inherited from her dad. His hair was more chestnut than auburn but like Sally, he had blue eyes while Charlie had startling green. I liked the fact that he had sharpened up a little and was wearing a button up with acid wash jeans, something that should've been fashionable if it hasn't had been for the backward NYC cap on his head, making him look like a skater from 2002. Mads kept on making disapproving looks towards the cap, and movements like she was going to take it off as Jay engaged me in vigorous conversation about the movie stars that I had come across at interviews and premiers.

"So, you met Leonard Nemoy?" He asked, in disbelief.

"On a panel show in the US, yeah." I said, turning slightly in my chair to face him better. Jay let out a overwhelmed breath and sat back in his chair for a second.

"Way to play it cool, bro." Charlie muttered and I grinned as Jay started on about Star Trek. He was just getting into the lack of respect towards the original series that was displayed in the new reboots when the food arrived, the waiter boosting the point score to 20, and the conversation became between the table.

I looked over at Charlie's food and back at mine, realising she had more sense than I had and had ordered something completely delicious. She caught me looking and offered me a fork of food. I took it and sighed. Truly amazing. She took a spoonful of the red wine and herb sauce that was moated around the beef on my plate and made a sound of content. In the end, we ended up sharing the meals half and half. As I ate, I noticed Gemma seemed interested in whatever I had to say.

"Gemma, your mummy tells me that you want to be a Doctor, like auntie Charlie's boyfriend, Matt?" Sally said. I looked at Gemma, who blushed and nodded. She was acting shy and sucking her thumb. Maddie leaned in and said

"Don't be silly, Matt wants to talk to you."

"But mummy, he's THE doctor." Gemma said, sounding as if her mother was being the silly one, not her. "I can't be THAT kind of doctor." She sat and looked sad, so I leaned in and spoke to her.

"Why ever not?"

"Because I'm a girl." Gemma said, her voice mousey.

"One day, the Doctor might be a girl. Hey, you never know, one day the Doctor might be you." And I winked at her. Charlie squeezed my hand out of thanks under the table and looked at me with a look in her eyes that was clear she wanted to drag me off to the toilets. I'd let her. Gemma gawped and her eyes grew wide with wonder.

"That settles it, then. More Doctor Who cast in the family." Charlie said.

"Does that mean that I'm going to have to change all the name tags in your school uniform to say 'Doctor Who' now?" Maddie said.

"No, mummy. Just Doctor will be fine." Gemma said, before starting on her burger. I began to laugh and Charlie snorted into the bread she had been biting into.

"Speaking of Doctor, I would like to congratulate Charlie on being one of the few people who manage to end up with their celebrity crush!" Sally said, raising her glass. Charlie rolled my eyes as everyone, including me, lifted their glass. I knew that her family were winding her up, but it was so strange to think that Charlie had liked me before she even knew me. Strange to think she liked me now she knew in person, had I lived up to the expectation.

"Oh screw you all." She said, blushing when she remembered that there was a 8 year old present. I chuckled as she turned guiltily to her niece. "Sorry Gemma."

"It's okay, daddy likes watching the rugby." She replied and I looked at her confused.

"Rugby?"

"He says a lot worse, like f-" Gemma said cutely.

"Gemma Howards, hold your tongue!" Mads cut her off suddenly. Fortunately, Charlie, Jay, Sally and I saw the funny side and laughed off what would have been a scolding.   
Tony had missed what was being said as he was struggling to understand the differences between the French wines.   
"Where were we?" Sally said, leaning across to Charlie.

"I think we were talking about how Gemma will be the Doctor." Charlie said innocently.

"No we weren't, we were discussing the chances of you seducing your celebrity crush." Sally said, wickedly smiling.

"Isn't it obvious?" Gemma said.

"No?" I said, turning to face her. She turned dramatically, pointing at Charlie and shouting

"She's a witch!" She giggled as Jay shushed her and Charlie stage gasped.

"But seriously, I really fancied her when she was in Ashes to Ashes, in fact it was the only reason I watched the Inspector Calls." I said. Charlie looked at me, bemused. I hadn't told her this before, but I could tell that her family would be embarrassing her for the rest of the day if I did not say anything.

"That's adorable." Said Mads.

"Yeah well, don't sound so surprised guys!" Charlie said. I laughed be leaned to kiss her. She lingered for a second before pulling away, and I couldn't wait to be alone tonight to continue where the kisses and looks were leaving off.

She looked at her watch when we separated and gasped.

"Jesus!" I leaned over and looked at the time.

"Damn."

"What's the matter?" Jay asked. Charlie had begun to put her bag over her shoulder and was pulling out her purse.

"We've got to catch the train to London in," She studied her watch again. "2 hours."

"That's ages." Sally protested.

"We've got to call in at mums first." She said, dropping our section of the bill down. Gemma ran up and gave her a hug. Charlie kissed her nieces head and promised to see her soon. Gemma then ran up and grabbed me around the middle tightly. I patted her head and she whispered,

"I'll miss you too, Uncle Matt."

"I'll miss you more! You're my only niece." I said, accepting the role with pride. Charlie grinned widely and we walked out into the street.

"I love you, you know?" She said softly. The wind was blowing her hair and making her eyes bright and there was no questioning that I felt the same.

"I love you too. And your mad family. Even though, apparently, you stalked me." I said, winking at her. She pushed me playfully and we headed towards the road, trying to get a taxi.


	20. I'm Coming Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the LAST chapter of the story!

"There we are." Matt said, painting a blue strip across the top of the wall. I watched his t-shirt ride up, displaying muscles that lay beneath.

"I think you missed a spot." I said, angling for another glance.

"Where?" He said, leaning back a little to compare the entire wall.

"Just..." I began, pointing to a high up spot.

"Here?" Matt said, dolloping a giant splodge of blue on my cheek. I froze and stood there, looking at him with disappointment as he laughed.

"I think I've changed my mind." I said, as he painted a few more strokes still laughing.

"How so?" He sounded disinterested.

"I don't want to live with you after all." I said, picking up and taking a swig of my tea that was lying on the floor and chewing on my 4th brioche of the morning.

"In your current condition, I don't think you have much of a choice?" He said, turning and beaming at me.

"Condition?" I said. I knew exactly what he was talking about, he had spoken of very little else.

"Well, you've obviously gone insane with suppressed desire." Matt said, wrapping his arms around me. His chest was hard, yet comforting against me.

"Suppressed? It's hardly been suppressed has it?" I said, feeling my cheeks flush slightly. I brought my lips closer and closer to his as we spoke, and he traced his fingertips along my arms and across the bottom of my stomach, making me shiver.

"Charlie Howards, what am I going to do with you?" He whispered tenderly the second before our lips finally met. I breathed him in, the scent of his cologne and his shampoo, the slight sweat that was glistening on the back of his neck from the painting work and hot room, his gasps as we broke apart before going in once again.

"Well," I said as we finished. "What are you going to do with me?"

"I guess I could marry you?" He said, cheekily.

"Okay then." I said. He was beaming from ear to ear and a giggled excitedly. I realised what we had just agreed. White dresses, flowers, music, press. It all seemed so overwhelming. "We keep it small and quiet though."

"Of course." He said.

"And no overly romantic clichés. Okay?" I said, pointing a warning finger at his nose as he rubbed my stomach.

"What so no Valentine's Day wedding with seventy pastries dressed bridesmaids and someone bursting in last minute to say you can't marry me because you're already married? That kind of thing?"

"Exactly that kind of thing. Apart from the last one."

"Why? Is that likely to happen?" Matt said, looking almost worried. I laughed.

"No, it just sounds exciting."

"I'm guessing it can't be anytime soon, what with..." He motioned to my torso. I put my palm where he was motioning.

"Filming. Series Nine with Capaldi. That's going to delay it as well. So next year then?"

"Summer. In the summer." Matt said, going back to his painting.

"With a theme." I said, letting ideas wash over me.

"I thought you said quiet and nothing cliché?" Matt said, painting more the pale blue onto the walls.

"Fine, no theme. But also no shoes?" I said, sitting down on the old sofa in the middle of the room.

"Yes! No shoes!" Matt said.

"And lace gloves." I said. There was a moment when we stared at each other, just smiling. I took him in, from the top of his head to the pit of his shoes. He was perfect. We stood like that for a minute or two. Finally, he seemed to realise that neither of us were talking, so he coughed.

"What about this room, then?"

"I'm thinking we should paint a massive self-portrait there." I said, pointing to the wall and changing the subject. "Something for whoever comes along to stare at."

"It's going to be a fine bedroom for the time being." Matt said. "I'm so glad we chose here."

"Same." I said. We had decided on Highgate, mainly for its accessibility to The City Centre, but also for the history and look of the place. It was amazing what famous neighbours we now had and the graveyard was full of names that I had grew up with, Douglas Adams being one of them.

Matt had agreed to move back to the UK for a couple of years, mainly as he didn't want to loose touch of where he was from. He had also been offered a lead role in a new BBC drama that would require him sticking around, amongst other things.

The new house was gorgeous. A blue faced terraced house near the centre of the village with a master bedroom, a guest room and the room that we were decorating. There were three floors, the top used as a studio floor bedroom where Matt and I were currently sleeping.

The bottom floor was open plan, and at the moment extremely bare. There was going to be a house warming in two weeks, with Karen, Arthur, Peter, Ben, Eve, Freema, John, Gatiss, and Moffat all coming. Hopefully they would have some suggestions for what we could do with the masses of space we now had.

"Our first proper home together!" I said.

"Shame about New York." Matt said, almost apologetically. New York had been a fleeting dream.

"It's fine. It's not anyone's fault. Anyway, we might live there some time else? With a family." I said. I put the tea down as a sudden wave of light headedness washed over me, accompanied by a tinge of nausea. "Bloody hell. Last night will have me shattered for a week."

"I know. Did you see Evelyn? She was absolutely wasted." Matt said. He chuckled as he began painting the final wall the duck shell blue. "She was dancing around with the kids, hanging of Noel and was trying to drag Ben off all night. I'm not ashamed to say I was laughing. I'm glad it wasn't at ours, would not have wanted to wake up to that mess in the morning."

"Yeah, well I was the sober one, designated driver is so annoying." I grumbled. "I know, I know, people can have fun without getting wasted. But still. I wanted to be able to sing Bohemian Rhapsody on the garage roof with Arthur, dance to Cotton Eyed Joe shamelessly with Ben and play twister whilst absolutely shit faced with you!"

"I offered a cab?" Matt said, still painting.

"Yes you did. Because you're a gentleman and an all-round good guy." I said. "What would I do without you?"

"I don't know, but I know that we have Moffat and Gatiss to thank for it. Scheming bastards. Well, they knew me well." He said.

"What do you mean?" I said, sitting up.

"They knew you were exactly my type. The chestnut cropped hair, big green eyes, loud mouth..."

"Oi!"

"Exactly my type. Only, well, better in every way." He said, blushing slightly. My cheeks flushed too and I stood up to join him with the painting. He looked at me in protest and motioned back to the sofa. "Don't stress yourself with this, I'll get Arthur or Karen to come and help me."

"No. I'm not a sectioned off. I'm helping." I said, bumping him out of the way.

"Alright, but nowhere past here." He said, drawing a line at about shoulder height.

"You best not carry on pandering to me all the way through, I'm quite robust. Actually, what am I saying? Please do." I said sticking my tongue out after finishing.

"I always will Charlie. Don't you worry. For you and for anything else that comes along." He said.

"You're such a kiss ass. This is why we can't get a dog; they'll own you, not the other way around." I said. But I loved him for it. I loved him for a million reasons that could be pinpointed at different moments in the two years I had known him. His crazy music, his serious dedication to his work, his great acting skills, the way he was with kids, all tracing back to a pair of sun glasses on an old sci-fi show. Typical, really.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So if anyone is an artist and wants to have a go at drawing Charlie and/or Matt for me, that would be great! Just that I have noticed that there is a lot of people reading and enjoying this and I was wondering how people see Charlie! If you do want to do a small piece of artwork, or a new cover, than please put it on a website and send me a link to the picture! Honestly, I want to see some stuff :)  
> If you have any questions, please go ahead and ask me! This is the last chapter of the story, I hope you have enjoyed it! As for Charlatan Andrea Howards? Time to sign out :D


	21. The Big Announcement

**30th May 2015** **12:32**

**@TPChin: Omg, is this true?**

 

**30th May 2015** **12:32**

**@Smowards: YES YES Y.E.S I PISSING KNEW IT**

 

**30th May 2015** **12:45**

**@WhovianSpn: OMG I'm so happy rn like crying**

 

**30th May 2015** **13:06**

**@RattyBurvil: Congradulations Matt and Chals**

 

**30th May 2015** **13:35**

**@bbcone: The Doctor and Alex Whitehall have released some big news! To read more click here http//bbc.co.uk/news/celebs/doctorwho/5hgs8**

 

**30th May 2015** **14:12**

**@KarenGillan2: Congrats to bes** **ties @CharlieHowardsUK and Matty Boy!**

 

**30th May 2015** **15:58**

**@CharlieHowardsUK: Thank you so much for the kind words! Matt and I will keep you posted ;)**

 

_**The Daily Mail** _

_**Regeneration Do Us Part?** _

31st May 2015

Yesterday, twitter was taken over by overexcited Who fans, all posting about the was about news released by Matt Smith's rep in the morning. 

_"We are pleased to announce that Matt Smith and Charlie Howards are engaged. The couple have been dating since meeting on the set of Doctor Who in 2012. It has been said that the marriage will undoubtably take place in the summer of next year."_

There has been a lot of talk about the BBC couple, who were seen shopping on Oxford Street last week. Many people say that the couple were caught looking at Mothercare, sparking rumours that the future Mrs. Smith is in fact pregnant. The recent engagement seems to have encouraged these rumours, with an unnamed insider saying:

_"Matt's always wanted kids, and he really loves Charlie. It seemed like the obvious thing to do, settle down with her. She has been trying to get pregnant for a couple of months and her work with Benedict (Cumberbatch and Evelyn (Night) only seem to encourage them. They really want a family. Matt said that ... Charlie might've been [pregnant] but nothing was sure."_

The engagement and possible pregnancy have given all the Who fans reason to celebrate, but they may forget that this could effect the release of Doctor Who Series 9, which was scheduled to film in January. It also throws into question how long Howards character, Alex Whitehall, has left in the TARDIS.

But for now, we wish the future Mr and Mrs Smith all the best. 

 

**8th June 2015** **10:34**

**@CharlieHowardsUK: As 'reported' by the Mail the other day, yes. I am pregnant. In other news, Matt has had another hair cut.**

 

**8th June 2015** **10:38**

**@CharlieHowardsUK: And I will be leaving my place as a regular on Doctor Who.**

 

**8th June 2015** **10:43**

**@CharlieHowardsUK: At least for a little while...**

 

**8th June 2015** **11:01**

**@CharlieHowardsUK: And I may not be the only one coming back... but you'll have to ask @markgatiss about that ;)**

 

**8th June 2015** **11:04**

**@MarkGatiss: Any more, and I'll kill you off in Sherlock too...**

 

**8th June 2015** **11:04**

**@MadcapWhovian: @MarkGatiss @CharlieHowardsUK WHAT IS HAPPENING OMF**

 

**8th June 2015** **11:08**

**@CharlieHowardsUK: @MadcapWhovian @MarkGatiss Wait and see...**


	22. What A Lovely Day For A White Wedding

"Rosie, hold Gee for me please?" Charlie asked. Rosie took the baby from her mother and balanced her on her hip. Charlie looked in the mirror, re-adjusting the small head band which was perched on top of her ornate braid. Evelyn had done it, as Charlie was completely useless at home hair care. Her wedding curls were now tucked around the floral headscarf, with some falling free. Georgia was wearing a pattened dress that matched her mothers outfit. The 4 month old had a tuft of hair that curled slightly towards the end, almost getting in her big green eyes. 

"Eve, tell Charlie to hurry, Matt's getting very emotional and no one can shut him up." A voice said from behind the door to the corridor. Charlie half laughed, half sighed. She looked at herself in the mirror and saw herself for the first time as a married woman. There were slight signs of the pregnancy still on her, she was a little chubby now, but her stockier frame carried it well. Her green eyes were rimmed with blue and white to match her honeymoon dress. Her hair had been dyed for her role in Sherlock, and was now bright red, but that had gone well with her beautiful wedding dress. She took her daughter back from Rosie and headed out of the room. 

She met Matt in the hallway, now out of his tailored suit that he had donned for the ceremony. He was her husband. She was his wife. He smiled widely at her and wiggled the fingers of his left hand, on the forth of which sat a silver wedding ring. She wiggled her finger back and the two of them giggled. Georgia waved to her daddy and laughed a little. Matt stroked her pudgy cheek and laughed back to her. 

"Georgia Ethel Smith." He said. "No longer a bastard child now." 

"Thankfully." Charlie said, moving her daughters bow until it made her look a little less like a christmas present. "She was baking during the ceremony. My mum wouldn't take her cardigan off."

"Well, my mum is currently having a word with the caters." Matt sighed.

"How come?" Charlie asked, and as she looked at him so did Gee. 

"We ran out of sausage dipping sauce." He said, dully. 

"Well, we don't want to ruin their big day." Said Charlie, getting ready to go through the door into the ballroom. "Let's go." 

Matt took her hand that wasn't supporting Georgia and led his family through the double doors towards the smiles of the friends, family and inevitable members of the press. A few cameras flashed and the newlyweds smiled. 

"We're only going to Australia for a fortnight." Charlie muttered. 

"Well, you know what they say." Matt murmured back.

"What?" Charlie asked. 

"Something about lifestyles of the rich and the famous. And don't start singing Good Charlotte." He said, before laughing slightly. They walked towards the doors on the other side of the hall, answering questions and thanking well wishers. They kissed their mothers cheeks and accepted small gifts from their siblings. Their collegues were near the doors, smiling widely. 

Finally when they were out in the open, they sighed and entered the car, greatful to be away from prying eyes. They shared a kiss as the car drove away. Georgia was passed to her father, in whom's arms she curled up and slept.


End file.
